Issues in 4G and 5G could allow people to listen in to your calls

Researchers have discovered security issues in the 4G and 5G standards which could let people listen in on your phone calls.

The team from the University of Iowa believe it is the first time that a security hole has been found in both the 4G standard and in 5G too.

Despite the increased security which 5G has been touted as providing, the academics say the protections aren't good enough.

"Any person with a little knowledge of cellular paging protocols can carry out this attack," said one of the researchers, Syed Rafiul Hussain, speaking to TechCrunch.

Three distinct flaws are being presented by the researchers at a network security symposium in San Diego this week.

For the flaws to be fixed, changes need to be made by the international GSM association for mobile communications companies.

The researchers told TechCrunch that they had reported the issues to GSM association but that they had not yet been fixed.

Mr Hussain said that the four major carriers in the US are affected by one of the attacks, which they nicknamed Torpedo.

It was not clear if the mobile providers in the UK are also affected, but there is no significant difference in the tech underpinning both countries' mobile networks.

A spokesperson for the GSM association was unable to respond immediately to Sky News' inquiries.

Sky News