Global SIM maker investigating major hack
One of the world’s largest producers of SIM cards for mobile phones on Friday said it was investigating reported hacking of its encryption codes by US and British spy agencies.
“We take this publication very seriously and will devote all resources necessary to fully investigate and understand the scope of such sophisticated techniques,” Amsterdam-based Gemalto said following a report by The Intercept website.
The website said the security breach in 2010 and 2011 potentially enabled the US National Security Agency and Britain’s equivalent, GCHQ, to “secretly monitor a large portion of the world’s cellular communications, including both voice and data.”
The Intercept, launched to report on files leaked by NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden, said its report was based on a secret GCHQ document from 2010.
The security breach makes the communications of hundreds of millions of mobile phone users “about as secure from GCHQ and NSA as an FM radio broadcast,” said the Electronic Frontier Foundation, a US-based organisation promoting digital freedom.
Gemalto said it was “especially vigilant against malicious hackers, and has detected, logged and mitigated many types of attempts over the years.”
“At present we cannot prove a link between those past attempts and what was reported yesterday [by The Intercept],” said the company, which claims to be a “world leader in digital security.”
Asked about the report, GCHQ reiterated its “longstanding policy that we do not comment on intelligence matters.”
It said its intelligence gathering was “carried out in accordance with a strict legal and policy framework which ensures that our activities are authorised, necessary and proportionate, and that there is rigorous oversight.”
Gemalto’s clients include some 450 mobile telephone operators, including China Mobile – the world’s largest provider – AT&T, Verizon, Sprint and T-Mobile.
It also supplies security applications to mobile phone producers including Samsung.
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