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Cracking GSM

Posted by michael on from the gsm-was-smashed-like-a-bowl-of-eggs dept.

RobertM writes "Professor Eli Biham, one of the worlds most famous crypto analysts, together with two of his students presented an interesting paper on flaws in GSM at the IACR Crypto conference. The GSM association is not happy. Read more on theReg." There's also a Reuters article about the situation.

4 of 359 comments (clear)

  1. A patented crack? by henrygb · · Score: 4, Insightful
    Reuters is saying "the method is being patented and will be used only by law enforcement agencies, he said".

    1. Does DCMA and its cousins allow such methods to be patented?

    2. Will the phreakers care about patents?

    1. Re:A patented crack? by morcheeba · · Score: 4, Insightful

      3. Will any government respect the patents, or will they take the opportunity to bolster their own national security?

      --
      HIV Crosses Species Barrier... into Muppets
    2. Re:A patented crack? by Kombat · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Governments don't need to crack the signal. They can already listen in on the unencrypted conversation at the base station, or even central office. Vendors of cell equipment are required by law to provide these back doors to government and law enforcement. If they didn't, then they simply couldn't sell their equipment. I know - I used to work in the cell phone billing division of Nortel.

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  2. Patent protection? by nuggz · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Illegal interception of calls will be prevented by patenting the technology?

    I'm sure that a criminal really cares about patent infringements.

    Laws should not be used to shore up broken technology. This only impedes law abiding citizens, and does nothing to improve the protection against crime.

    This one arguement against gun control, make them illegal and only criminals will have guns.
    Make this illegal and only criminals will listen to your phone call.