This is something that potentially will keep you awake tonight. It has come to light that American and UK spies have hacked into a company called Gemalto in order to gain the ability to spy on smartphone users. Here’s some of the details from the BBC:
The Intercept says that “the great Sim heist” gave US and British surveillance agencies “the potential to secretly monitor a large portion of the world’s cellular communications, including both voice and data”.
It says that among the clients of the Netherlands-based company are AT&T, T-Mobile, Verizon, Sprint and “some 450 wireless network providers around the world”.
One other thing to consider. Gemalto also produces the ID chips used in modern passports. Thus the effects of this could go beyond the smartphone space. One thing to note is that when Gemalto produces SIM cards, they themselves set the encryption codes. Which means that if you get the encryption code or codes, you can cause a whole lot of damage. The chips used in passports are apparently blank when they’re delivered to the end customer. So they are less likely to be exploited because the end customers would set up their own encryption. At least in theory. These days you never know. Neither country has commented on this. Not that you would expect them to.
This came to light because of the gift that keeps on giving known as Edward Snowden. Love him or hate him, he is sure making intelligence agencies tremble in fear because of what he knows.
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This entry was posted on February 20, 2015 at 2:01 pm and is filed under Commentary with tags hack, Security, UK, USA. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.
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US & UK Spies Hack Into Maker Of SIM Cards To Spy On Mobile Phone Users
This is something that potentially will keep you awake tonight. It has come to light that American and UK spies have hacked into a company called Gemalto in order to gain the ability to spy on smartphone users. Here’s some of the details from the BBC:
The Intercept says that “the great Sim heist” gave US and British surveillance agencies “the potential to secretly monitor a large portion of the world’s cellular communications, including both voice and data”.
It says that among the clients of the Netherlands-based company are AT&T, T-Mobile, Verizon, Sprint and “some 450 wireless network providers around the world”.
One other thing to consider. Gemalto also produces the ID chips used in modern passports. Thus the effects of this could go beyond the smartphone space. One thing to note is that when Gemalto produces SIM cards, they themselves set the encryption codes. Which means that if you get the encryption code or codes, you can cause a whole lot of damage. The chips used in passports are apparently blank when they’re delivered to the end customer. So they are less likely to be exploited because the end customers would set up their own encryption. At least in theory. These days you never know. Neither country has commented on this. Not that you would expect them to.
This came to light because of the gift that keeps on giving known as Edward Snowden. Love him or hate him, he is sure making intelligence agencies tremble in fear because of what he knows.
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This entry was posted on February 20, 2015 at 2:01 pm and is filed under Commentary with tags hack, Security, UK, USA. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.