FC: Digital cell phone encryption broken, snooping possible

[Declan McCullagh <declan () well com>]

*******

http://wired.lycos.com/news/politics/0,1283,32900,00.html

                     Cell Phone Crypto Penetrated 
                     by Declan McCullagh (declan () wired com)

                     10:55 a.m. 6.Dec.1999 PST 
                     Israeli researchers have discovered
                     design flaws that allow the descrambling
                     of supposedly private conversations
                     carried by hundreds of millions of wireless
                     phones. 

                     Alex Biryukov and Adi Shamir describe in a
                     paper to be published this week how a PC
                     with 128 MB RAM and large hard drives
                     can penetrate the security of a phone
                     call or data transmission in less than one
                     second. 

                     The flawed algorithm appears in digital
                     GSM phones made by companies such as
                     Motorola, Ericsson, and Siemens, and
                     used by well over 100 million customers in
                     Europe and the United States. Recent
                     estimates say there are over 230 million
                     users worldwide who account for 65
                     percent of the digital wireless market. 

                     [...]



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