Code breakers crack GSM cellphone encryption

Greg Rose ggr at qualcomm.com
Mon Sep 8 12:37:04 EDT 2003


At 05:18 PM 9/7/2003 -0700, David Honig wrote:
> >A copy of the research was sent to GSM authorities in order to correct the
> >problem, and the method is being patented so that in future it can be used
> >by the law enforcement agencies.
>
>"Laughing my ass off."  Since when do governments care about patents?
>How would this help/harm them from exploiting it?   Not that
>high-end LEOs haven't already had this capacity ---Biham et al
>are only the first *open* researchers to reveal this.

Actually, patenting the method isn't nearly as silly as it sounds. Produced 
in quantity, a device to break GSM using this attack is not going to cost 
much more than a cellphone (without subsidies). Patenting the attack 
prevents the production of the "radio shack (tm) gsm scanner", so that it 
at least requires serious attackers, not idle retirees or jealous teenagers.

Greg.


Greg Rose                                       INTERNET: ggr at qualcomm.com
Qualcomm Australia          VOICE:  +61-2-9817 4188   FAX: +61-2-9817 5199
Level 3, 230 Victoria Road,                http://people.qualcomm.com/ggr/
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