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News Researcher plans distributed GSM crack

Discussion in 'Article Discussion' started by CardJoe, 26 Aug 2009.

  1. CardJoe

    CardJoe Freelance Journalist

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  2. Krikkit

    Krikkit All glory to the hypnotoad! Super Moderator

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    It sounds to me like there has been plenty of opportunity to change and reinforce the system, these flaws are obviously not unknown. Nohl's just forcing a change, even if the results in the short-term are questionable the long-term will improve.
     
  3. Omnituens

    Omnituens What's a Dremel?

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    Just a quick question - why do you put 'phone? surely (while correct) it's not really required.

    TBH, I'm not that fussed about people listening to my phone calls - worse they will find out is that I'm playing rock band with friends next week.
     
  4. Gareth Halfacree

    Gareth Halfacree WIIGII! Lover of bit-tech Administrator Super Moderator Moderator

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    Because I'm a filthy, unrepentant pedant. :p
     
  5. l3v1ck

    l3v1ck Fueling the world, one oil well at a time.

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    How long before Führer Brown decided to use this to spy on the content of our phone calls.
     
  6. cyrilthefish

    cyrilthefish What's a Dremel?

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    Probably as soon as he realises he can, if he hasn't already :sigh:
     
  7. mclean007

    mclean007 Officious Bystander

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    If 160 volunteers are expected to crack it in 2 months, then trust me, every major government already has a codebook and has the technology (if not the legal mandate) to crack calls on a whim.
     
  8. B3CK

    B3CK Minimodder

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    I don't think he should do it. I for one, hang on to my phones for an average of 5yrs. I just recently in the last few months upgraded to a black berry. There are a lot of people that don't want to upgrade phones because the one they have works just fine, and they don't want to get locked into another multi year agreement when they do upgrade.
    The sheer amount of phones that are out there that only have the gsm encryption is not insignificant. Forcing people to upgrade phones by releasing to the public this crack table, is an abuse against the consumer, and only allowing the crackers an easier way to "tap" people's phones, and possible break into the data of the device.
     
  9. bowman

    bowman Minimodder

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    GSM security has been a joke for a very long time and it is trivial for any government (or anyone else) to listen in illegally.

    http://openbts.blogspot.com/
     
  10. CardJoe

    CardJoe Freelance Journalist

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    More accurately, because I got tired of editing it out ;)
     
  11. Silver51

    Silver51 I cast flare!

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    My main phone is a 1999 Nokia 7110. While it still makes calls and sends text messages in long hand, there seems little reason to upgrade.
     
  12. Phil Rhodes

    Phil Rhodes Hypernobber

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    What he said.
     
  13. DarkLord7854

    DarkLord7854 What's a Dremel?

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    So you'd rather let people be able to listen in to your conversations? They already can do it, it's just harder to get your hands on the technology needed for it.
     
  14. KriTip

    KriTip What's a Dremel?

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    Why don't the governments back it, and then we can have a mobile scrapage scheme to boost the economy with the requirement to buy new phones ;)
     
  15. DarkLord7854

    DarkLord7854 What's a Dremel?

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    Because that makes sense. Why the hell would the government do something that makes sense, benefits the people, AND helps out the economy? That's like, against all their policies. :p
     
  16. Jozo

    Jozo This is bit-tech

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    Soon we'll be back to tin cans and a string? Try decrypting that!

    I don't personally care if some regular guy can decrypt my phone calls. It's not like what I have for lunch is a strongly kept secret. I just wouldn't feel comfortable with it. And we all know providers won't switch to better encryption just because someone can decrypt it and listen to others phone calls, most people won't even understand what this Nohl guy even did.
     
  17. TSR2

    TSR2 What's a Dremel?

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    Hang on, takes 160 people a few months to decipher, probably pretty easy to listen to people's calls... One day we'll get secret Government records released that show Brown spent £billions on trying to do the same thing, and eventually just gave up because it was 'too difficult.' This isn't the Nazis we're talking about here.
     
  18. v4111@me.com

    v4111@me.com What's a Dremel?

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    Huh...?

    People still talk on cell phones? :eyebrow:
     
  19. steveo_mcg

    steveo_mcg What's a Dremel?

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  20. h8jellybeans

    h8jellybeans What's a Dremel?

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