CellPhone Encryption Cracked

Karsten Nohl, a 28 year old engineer and encryption expert, said yesterday that he broke the 64-bit A5/1 encryption algorithm used to secure GSM phone calls around the world. 



BTW...hope the Square doesn't rely on GSM encyrption when they claim that your card numbers are "encrypted."  HomeATM's 3DES DUKPT encryption takes place inside our PCI 2.x PIN Entry Device. 



According to the New York Times, (see below) Nohl made the claim at the Chaos Communication Congress conference in Berlin. He argued that the current algorithms used to encrypt phone calls are not adequate enough to prevent lapses in security...

Cellphone Encryption Code Is Divulged

By KEVIN J. O’BRIEN  NY Times

BERLIN — A German computer engineer said Monday that he had deciphered and published the secret code used to encrypt most of the world’s digital mobile phone calls, saying it was his attempt to expose weaknesses in the security of global wireless systems.



The action by the encryption expert, Karsten Nohl, aimed to question the effectiveness of the 21-year-old G.S.M. algorithm, a code developed in 1988 and still used to protect the privacy of 80 percent of mobile calls worldwide. (The abbreviation stands for global system for mobile communication.)

“This shows that existing G.S.M. security is inadequate,” Mr. Nohl, 28, told about 600 people attending the Chaos Communication Congress, a four-day conference of computer hackers that runs through Wednesday in Berlin. “We are trying to push operators to adopt better security measures for mobile phone calls.

 Continue Reading at NYT

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