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Common Cell Phone Encryption Cracked, Published Online

by Terrence O'Brien on December 29, 2009 at 02:25 PM


Karsten Nohl, a German computer scientist and encryption expert, claims to have cracked the algorithm that protects wireless communications over GSM networks, the chosen route for 80-percent of global cellular traffic. As part of what Nohl told the Chaos Communication Congress is an attempt to "push operators to adopt better security measures for mobile phone calls," he published the 2 terabytes of binary code through BitTorrent.

Of course, the code, in and of itself, does not magically enable anyone to eavesdrop on cell phone conversations. Those signals must still be intercepted, and significant work must be done to decrypt them. Still, by publishing the algorithm, Nohl has made the work of would-be hackers that much easier.

The particular version of the encryption cracked is the older 64-bit A5/1 algorithm, which was state of the art when it debuted in 1988. In 2007, the GSM Association debuted the newer 128-bit A5/3 standard, but many network operators have been reluctant to spend the money to upgrade. The leak of this information, needed to crack the older standard, may finally light a fire under carriers and get them moving on the long overdue update.

The only solace we can take is that the newer A5/3 algorithm is standard on 3G GSM networks, such as AT&T's and T-Mobile's. [From: New York Times]

Tags: encryption, gsm, hack, privacy, security, top

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