On Aug 2, 2010, at 11:08 AM, Perry E. Metzger wrote: > On Mon, 2 Aug 2010 11:02:54 -0400 Bill Squier <g...@old-ones.com> > wrote: >> "...In his presentation at the Black Hat Conference, German GSM >> expert Karsten Nohl presented a tool he calls Kraken, which he >> claims can crack the A5/1 encryption used for cell phone calls >> within seconds." >> >> http://www.h-online.com/security/news/item/Quickly-decrypting-cell-phone-calls-1048850.html > > This is a really important development.
Others have previously cracked A5/1, and Mr Nohl's efforts are not news: http://www.pcworld.com/businesscenter/article/185552/gsm_encryption_cracked_showing_its_age.html but the main thing here appears to be the compilation of the rainbow tables. Also, it's worth noting that the GSMA has had A5/3 GSM encryption available (http://gsmworld.com/documents/a5_3_and_gea3_specifications.pdf -- PDF) since 2008, but that the improved technology has apparently not yet seen large-scale adoption by mobile operators. Regards, - johnk > -- > Perry E. Metzger pe...@piermont.com > > --------------------------------------------------------------------- > The Cryptography Mailing List > Unsubscribe by sending "unsubscribe cryptography" to majord...@metzdowd.com --------------------------------------------------------------------- The Cryptography Mailing List Unsubscribe by sending "unsubscribe cryptography" to majord...@metzdowd.com
