The program sent an iPhone to Rep. Ted Lieu (D-Calif.), a member of the House Oversight and Reform Subcommittee on Information Technology, who agreed to use it knowing it would be hacked.

The results were startling.

As soon as the hackers had the phone number, they accessed a flaw in a vital global network that connects phone carriers and accessed nearly everything in his phone. They were able to listen to and record calls, view his contacts and track his movements.

When the program played the lawmaker a recording of a phone call he had with a staffer, he had two reactions.

"First, it's really creepy. And second, it makes me angry," he said.