Code breakers crack GSM cellphone encryption

[Dave Farber <dave () farber net>]

> Date: Sun, 07 Sep 2003 17:23:06 -0700
> From: Lauren Weinstein <lauren () vortex com>
> Subject: Re: [IP] Code breakers crack GSM cellphone encryption
> To: dave () farber net
> Cc: lauren () vortex com
>
>
> Dave,
>
> As the article implies, weaknesses -- both designed and accidental --
> in GSM and other cellular systems' encryption are not really big news.
> Given the short range and rapid inter-cell handoffs involved in
> most real-world cellular deployments (particularly in metro areas),
> opportunistic monitoring or undetected interference with such calls
> in a practical manner would seem relatively limited in most cases.
>
> On the other hand, the primary parties interested in monitoring cell phone
> calls -- law enforcement, intelligence agencies, etc. -- will not generally
> be very concerned with the phones' air links at all, but will obtain their
> feeds much more efficiently from the centralized facilities (e.g. MTSO -
> Mobile Telephone Switching Office) that aggregrate an entire region's
> cellular traffic for a carrier.
>
> --Lauren--
> Lauren Weinstein
> lauren () pfir org or lauren () vortex com or lauren () privacyforum org
> http://www.pfir.org/lauren
> Tel: +1 (818) 225-2800
> Co-Founder, PFIR - People For Internet Responsibility - http://www.pfir.org
> Co-Founder, Fact Squad - http://www.factsquad.org
> Co-Founder, URIICA - Union for Representative International Internet
>                      Cooperation and Analysis - http://www.uriica.org
> Moderator, PRIVACY Forum - http://www.vortex.com
> Member, ACM Committee on Computers and Public Policy

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