Computer engineer Karsten Nohl publicly revealed “the encryption code protecting GSM phones in more than 212 countries – estimated at 80 percent of all the world’s cell phones” at a hackers’ convention in Berlin. Fortunately, phones using 3G encryption remain unaffected. The GSM Association is planning a meeting next February to discuss security measures.
The GSMA told the FT they were “closely monitoring” the situation, but doubted the hack would result in multitudes of personal phone calls being tapped into illegally in the coming weeks or months.
