On Mon, 2 Aug 2010 12:45:46 -0400 John Kemp <[email protected]> wrote: > On Aug 2, 2010, at 11:08 AM, Perry E. Metzger wrote: > > > On Mon, 2 Aug 2010 11:02:54 -0400 Bill Squier <[email protected]> > > 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:
I think demonstrating the whole thing being done for a negligible amount of money is indeed news. > 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. Perhaps they hadn't seen a low cost demonstration of the threat yet. -- Perry E. Metzger [email protected] --------------------------------------------------------------------- The Cryptography Mailing List Unsubscribe by sending "unsubscribe cryptography" to [email protected]
