A German encryption expert, Karsten Nohl has cracked and published the GSM code that is widely used to encrypt calls to prevent eavesdropping. Anything in the tech world is often given the vintage status after a decade or so but in the case of 21-year old GSM encryption technology, it is still in use serving over 3.5 billion GSM subscribers. In technical parlance, the encryption code is known as A5/1 algorithm and consists of 64-bit binary code.
Nohl claims that his decision to make the code available will push the operators to upgrade the 2G security to A5/3 algorithm, which is the successor of A5/1 with 128-bit binary code, at par with 3G security.
However, GSM Association tends to differ as they claim that tapping on calls is “theoretically possible but practically unlikely”. A regular digital call hops to up to 60 different broadcast frequencies and GSM Association says operators can thwart the cracking attempt easily by modifying the existing algorithm.
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