| First Appearance | “Pilot” |
| Latest Appearance | “Sotto Voce” |
| Purpose | Monitoring Targets |
| Connection | Team Machine |
| “ | You get all that, fellas?" "She's not wired." "It's a brave new world, boys. Don't you read the papers? Anyone can listen in on your phone. Even when it's turned off. |
” |
— Joss Carter and Patrick Simmons | ||
Forced pairing, cell phone pairing, bluejacking or phone cloning is a technique Team Machine uses to monitor a target's cell phone. Forced pairing is part of the Team's standard operating procedure on cases. (“Pilot”)
Users[]
Team Machine[]
Originally provided by Finch to Reese, the two have since passed the program on to Carter (“In Extremis”), Fusco (“Bad Code”) and Shaw (“Nothing to Hide”). Finch can quickly implement the program on a just-bought pre-paid cell phone despite his equipment in the library having been compromised by Root's hack and him having to abandon all of his technology for protection. This indicates he can either recover the program quickly or replicate it. (“Root Cause”)
Rick Dillinger also used the program but his had a different interface, possibly because he worked with Finch in 2010 and may have been using an older version of the program. (“RAM”)
ISA[]
While working for the ISA, Shaw used a similar program that had a different appearance than Finch's and mentioned SIM card cloning when used on a target. (“Relevance”) Control used a phone cloning program against Senator Ross Garrison. (“YHWH”)
HR[]
HR once forced paired Hayden Price's phone. However, their method of doing so is unknown and blocked Finch's program from working. (“The Perfect Mark”)
Forced Pairing[]
The program lists the numbers nearby phones and allows the user to choose which phone to pair with. Pairing is not possible if the target's phone is turned off, is already paired though Finch is capable of bypassing this limitation by disabling the other pairing, (“Risk”) or if wifi and bluetooth are turned off. The target typically does not receive notification that their phone has been compromised. (“Til Death”)
Though no one has ever discovered the Team's use of phone pairing, certain hackers and criminals are wary of the vulnerabilities posed by mobile phones.
Features[]
The program also has the following features:
- Tracking paired phones via GPS.
- Sending messages from paired phones. (“Matsya Nyaya”)
- Installing the program remotely on other phones. (“Bad Code”)
- Using paired phones as a host to infect nearby phones. (“Triggerman”)
- Monitoring a paired phone's communications
- Accessing a previous pairing. Finch used this to check up on Fusco through his phone's microphone as Fusco helped Karolina Kurkova. (“Prisoner's Dilemma”)
- Recording conversations both in the form of phone calls and through the microphone. Finch used this feature to record a conversation between Root and Pete Matheson (“Root Cause”), and Fusco used it to record a conversation between Cal Beecher and Carl Elias (“Trojan Horse”) as well as Howard Carpenter and Bruce Moran. (“A More Perfect Union”)
- Displaying the person calling a paired phone. (“Razgovor”)
- Creating complex tracking devices: Finch created a tracking device by programming Shayn Coleman's high-tech prosthetic arm to force pair with cell phones it passes so as to leave a GPS trail. (“Shadow Box”)
- Accessing a paired phone's microphone to, for example, spy on conversations from a distance. (“Razgovor”) (“Mors Praematura”) (“The Perfect Mark”)(“Endgame”)(“A More Perfect Union”)
- Transferring a user's program between phones. (“Endgame”)
- Accessing another user's forced pairing remotely and using it to record conversations. Finch was able to access Carter's pairing of Alonzo Quinn's phone from his computer and record Quinn's conversation even after Carter's cell phone carrying the pairing was destroyed. (“Endgame”)
- Hacking every phone in proximity from across the street. (“Provenance”)
- Muting and unmuting a paired phone remotely. (“Last Call”)
- Accessing files stored on a paired phone.
- Directly calling a paired phone. (“The Devil You Know”)
- Connecting by cable to a computer to transfer files. (“A More Perfect Union”)
While the program itself works the same over the show, the display for it changes between seasons.
Reality[]
In reality, most Bluetooth compatible devices require user confirmation before exchanging data with another device because of the prevalence of these attacks in 2000–2004. Unauthorized reading of data from devices via Bluetooth is called Bluesnarfing.
Notes[]
- Finch is occasionally shown accessing phones through his computer using cell phone company hacks rather than a forced pairing, showing that the program exists more as a field tool for the Team.
- It's possible that the program is what Finch was using to hack Alicia Corwin's phone in flashbacks in “Karma”. Alternatively, Finch may have been using his hacking of the cell phone company to access her phone.
- Forced pairings have been used to both exonerate and incriminate people: Finch and Fusco used it to exonerate Scott Powell (“Root Cause”), and Cal Beecher (“Trojan Horse”) respectively. Carter used it to incriminate HR leader Alonzo Quinn. (“Endgame”)
- After showing Carter his recording of Cal Beecher and Elias's conversation, Fusco calls it an illegal wiretap as he did not have a court order, and as a result, it was inadmissible as evidence. (“Trojan Horse”) However, Carter seemed to believe it would be admissible as evidence when she had Finch record Alonzo Quinn's confession in the murder of Beecher.
- The forced pairing program was instrumental in taking down HR:
- After she learned that Raymond Terney was an HR cop, Carter used the program on his cell phone, enabling her to rescue Elias. (“God Mode”)
- She later used the program in her extensive surveillance on HR by tracking Terney and listening to his conversations with other HR members through his phone. (“Razgovor”) It is also likely the source of the recordings she made against HR.
- She later monitors Laskey through the program after making him her mole in HR, which allows her to learn about HR's money laundering scheme. (“Mors Praematura”) (“The Perfect Mark”)
- After Alonzo Quinn is exposed as the head of HR, Carter uses the program to spy on Quinn's movements and plans and sabotage them. She later has Finch remote access her pairing and use it to record Quinn's confession in the murder of Cal Beecher, enabling her to arrest Quinn. (“Endgame”)
- Though she acquired the forced pairing program far into her tenure on the show, Carter used the program extensively once she had it and was the only character to receive the program by request, rather than being given it to aid her in helping Reese and Finch.
- As seen in “The Devil You Know”, along with directly connecting to a specifically chosen phone, the program displays a list of phone numbers of devices in range to be paired with. Finch is able to pair Carl Elias' phone by clicking on his phone number and then calls him directly.
- In “A More Perfect Union”, Fusco was able to connect the program to his work computer and use NYPD software to clean up a conversation that he had recorded.
- Creating a pairing appears to have to happen at a fairly close range as Fusco's first attempt with Howard Carpenter failed. Once Fusco got closer, he was successful. (“A More Perfect Union”)
- Typically, pairings are shown being done when someone is standing next to the target or in close proximity.
- Fusco is the first and only character shown being actually given the program as most members of Team Machine receive it off-screen. Fusco also uses it the least, using it in “Bad Code”, “Shadow Box” and “Trojan Horse” in season 2 and then not again until “A More Perfect Union” in season 5.
Trivia[]
- Carter has been both a victim of the forced pairing program (“Get Carter”) and a user of it. (“In Extremis”) (“God Mode”) (“Razgovor”) (“Endgame”)
- It's implied that Finch is using the previous pairing of her phone in “Legacy” to spy on Carter's interrogation of the Kinseys. Finch notably doesn't deny it when Carter asks if he's bugging her phone.
- Terry Easton, a.k.a. "The Voice", is the final person to suffer a forced pairing on the series.