IP: TIME Magazine on GSM cell phone crack

[Dave Farber <farber () cis upenn edu>]

From: Declan McCullagh <declan () well com>


[Check out p22 of this week's issue for a cute graphic of an exploding
Motorola MicroTAC Select 6000 cell phone. --Declan]


******


TIME Magazine
April 20, 1998
Page 22




http://www.pathfinder.com/time/magazine/1998/dom/980420/notebook.techwatch.
levit24.html
          
   CODEBREAKERS
   
   CRACKED Thought your new digital cell phone was safe from high-tech
   thieves? Guess again. Silicon Valley cypherpunks have broken the
   proprietary encryption technology used in 80 million GSM (Global
   System for Mobile communications) phones nationwide, including
   Motorola MicroTAC, Ericsson GSM 900 and Siemens D1900 models. Now
   crooks scanning the airwaves can remotely tap into a call and
   duplicate the owner's digital ID. "We can clone the phones," brags
   Marc Briceno, who organized the cracking. His advice: manufacturers
   should stick to publicly vetted codes that a bunch of geeks can't
   crack in their spare time. --By Declan McCullagh/Washington