Hacking The Unsecure GSM Network

Do you believe your phone line is secure? Do you believe that no one is listening in on your calls? Do you think that your phone’s data, all of your contacts, messages, and photos are safe and that your internet browsing is secure? If you do, may be you should think again.  Sometimes its ridiculous how the most common and important technology in our daily-life is vulnerable to kinds of attacks that could bring nightmares. Still, no one is aware, no one is doing anything. Such is the Case of Today’s GSM-The most popular Cellphone Technology.

The BIG Impact:

Today, there are billions of people using GSM phone technology. So, cracking GSM encryption has BIG concerns underneath.

What’s at stake if GSM-encrypted traffic is no longer secure?

• Loss of Privacy over Voice Calls – Any damn GSM call can be intercepted. This means everything.
• Jamming calls – Today, Jammer’s do exist but new kind of jamming technology can be introduced that can take down communications in larger areas.
• Financial institutions that use text messages as authentication tokens would be in trouble.
• Business – Almost all Business end-customers will be impacted, the potential loss to the business could touch billions.
• PDA and Smart-phone IP Traffic – Users that surf web, use internet over their phones for Business EMail will no longer be secure.

Cell phone usage is evolving at an astonishing rate. We are no longer relying on our cell phones for the sole purpose of making calls, but also to send emails, to access the internet, and to store a variety of data, making our cell phones a repository of personal and business information. Unfortunately, the more dependent we become on personal electronics, the more complex they become, and the more susceptible they become to security defects.

People regularly trading in confidential information, such as Government officials and executives, would be the most likely eavesdropping targets but virtually anyone with enough skills and determination could harness the research for nefarious means, security experts warn. 

A group of German scientists claim to have cracked the security code that protects around 80 per cent of the world’s mobiles phones. Karsten Nohl, working with others online and around the world, created a code book showing how to get past the GSM encryption used to keep conversations on more than 3 billion mobile phones safe from prying ears.

Nohl said the purpose was to push companies to improve security. Even with Nohl’s exploit, expensive and sophisticated radio equipment placed close to the target is required to pull the calls off the air.

He shared his exploits with participants at a Berlin hackers conference this week.

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