[2483] in cryptography@c2.net mail archive
TIME Magazine on GSM cell phone crack
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Declan McCullagh)
Mon Apr 13 13:01:21 1998
Date: Mon, 13 Apr 1998 08:48:40 -0700 (PDT)
From: Declan McCullagh <declan@well.com>
To: cryptography@c2.net
[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