Communications | 30.12.2009
German computer scientist breaks mobile phone codes
A German computer scientist has broken the codes which secure the calls of more than 80 percent of the world's phones.
According to reports in the Guardian newspaper and informationweek.com, Karsten Nohl, a former graduate student at the University of Virginia, and his team of 24 hackers began working on the security codes of the GSM (Global System for Mobiles) system in August.
Nohl revealed his team's findings at the Chaos Communication Congress in Berlin, the largest computer hackers' conference in Europe. He says that a person with the code and $30,000 worth of computer equipment could record phone calls within 15 minutes. This makes hacking more possible among criminal organizations.
"This shows that existing GSM security is inadequate," Nohl told the congress. However, the former student insists his work was purely for academic reasons, and that he hoped the global telecommunications industry would improve its security measures.
GSM representatives say research is "highly illegal"
Nohl's deciphering of the GSM system did not go down so well with the GSM Association, which represents the worldwide mobile communications industry.
"We consider this research, which appears to be motivated in part by commercial considerations, to be a long way from being a practical attack on GSM. To do this while supposedly being concerned about privacy is beyond me." said a spokeswoman.
GSM was first developed in 1988, and prevents the interception of calls by forcing phones and base stations to continually change their frequencies.
Author: Matt Kang
Editor: Chuck Penfold
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