GSM eavesdropping

[Perry E. Metzger]

On Mon, 2 Aug 2010 12:45:46 -0400 John Kemp <john at jkemp.net> wrote:
> On Aug 2, 2010, at 11:08 AM, Perry E. Metzger wrote:
> 
> > On Mon, 2 Aug 2010 11:02:54 -0400 Bill Squier <groo at old-ones.com>
> > wrote:
> >> "...In his presentation at the Black Hat Conference, German GSM
> >> expert Karsten Nohl presented a tool he calls Kraken, which he
> >> claims can crack the A5/1 encryption used for cell phone calls
> >> within seconds."
> >> 
> >> http://www.h-online.com/security/news/item/Quickly-decrypting-cell-phone-calls-1048850.html
> > 
> > This is a really important development.
> 
> Others have previously cracked A5/1, and Mr Nohl's efforts are not
> news:

I think demonstrating the whole thing being done for a
negligible amount of money is indeed news.

> Also, it's worth noting that the GSMA has had A5/3 GSM encryption
> available
> (http://gsmworld.com/documents/a5_3_and_gea3_specifications.pdf --
> PDF) since 2008, but that the improved technology has apparently
> not yet seen large-scale adoption by mobile operators. 

Perhaps they hadn't seen a low cost demonstration of the threat yet.

-- 
Perry E. Metzger		perry at piermont.com

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