Carl Chapman » Wireless Security

New Kraken GSM-cracking software released

Carl — Sun, 25 Jul 2010 23:49:42 +0000

The GSM technology used by the majority of the world’s mobile phones will get some scrutiny at this week’s Black Hat security conference, and what the security researchers there have to say isn’t pretty.

On Friday, an open source group released software that cracks the A5/1 encryption algorithm used by some GSM networks. Called Kraken, this software uses new, very efficient, encryption cracking tables that allow it to break A5/1 encryption much faster than before.

The software is a key step toward eavesdropping on mobile phone conversations over GSM (Global System for Mobile Communications) networks.

In December, the group released a set of encryption tables designed to speed up the arduous process of breaking A5/1 encryption, but the software component was incomplete. Now the software is done, and the tables are much more efficient than they were seven months ago.

NTIA Releases Reports on Prison Cellular Jamming Trial

Carl — Thu, 03 Jun 2010 09:34:40 +0000

The US National telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) has released two reports from its recent on-site prison cellular jamming trials at the Cumberland, Md. federal correctional facility in February.

TR-10-466 Emission Measurments of a Cellular and PCS jammer at a Prison Facility – http://www.ntia.doc.gov/osmhome/contrabandcellphones/NTIAPrisoncelljammerreport_TR_10_466.pdf
10-468 Inital Assessment of the potential impact from a jamming transmitter on selected in-band and out-of-band receivers – http://www.ntia.doc.gov/osmhome/contrabandcellphones/NTIATechnicalMemorandum_10_468.pdf

Government watchdog calls for public opinion on prison phone jamming

Carl — Sat, 30 Jan 2010 09:25:03 +0000

The government communications watchdog has called for public opinion on whether Australia should introduce mobile phone jamming in prisons.

The call comes ahead of a proposed NSW State Government trial of mobile phone jammers in Lithgow gaol which if successful could make Australia one of about 10 countries to legalise the practice.

Australian and New Zealand heads of correctional services agreed at a Corrective Services Ministers’ Conference in June 2008 to plan the use of phone jammers in prisons and sent the communications watchdog a submission last March. New Zealand has already legalised and is expanding its use of jammers in correctional facilities……..

Study: Hacking Passwords Easy As 123456

Carl — Fri, 22 Jan 2010 23:45:53 +0000

If you are using “123456″ as your password it is past time to stop. Same if you are using the always popular “Password” to protect your account. Those easy-to-hack passwords were the top and fourth most-popular from among 32 million hacked from RockYou.com, a new study finds…….

Read the complete article at PCWorld Tech Insider

Claim of 3G Security Crack with Sandwich Attack

Carl — Wed, 13 Jan 2010 09:58:55 +0000

Following a recent crack of the simpler A5/1 standard, researchers at the Weizmann Institute of Science say they have cracked the A5/3 security cipher (nicknamed Kasumi) by using what’s known as a “sandwich” attack. The group accomplished its goal by creating a distinguishing trait for the key and using just four related keys to determine the key for Kasumi itself.

While breaking the security takes time, the approach theoretically leaves GSM more directly exposed to call interceptions and other threats. Most cellular carriers still use the lower-grade GSM quality (A5/1) as their base calling technology, but 3G/UMTS (the upgrade to GSM) uses Kasumi and is potentially exposed as well.

More information:- http://www.emergentchaos.com/archives/2010/01/another_week_another_gsm.html

India to Block Millions of Mobile Phones from December 1

Carl — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 01:00:54 +0000

Indian operators will be blocking several million mobile phones from December 1 as a government ban on handsets without a valid IMEI comes into effect.

Estimates have suggested that as many as 25 million handsets were being used without an IMEI number. This has decreased over the past few months with the operators offering a reprogramming service to insert a valid IMEI into the handsets, but it is thought that there are still millions of potentially illegal handsets in use.

Mobile phones without an IMEI are typically low-end handsets from smaller Chinese phone manufacturers who cut costs by skipping the IMEI programming stage.

Although the serial number does not affect the billing, which is managed by SIM identities, it does add an extra layer of proof for the police if checking who made a phone call from a specific handset. The issue became a serious topic after such phones were allegedly used by terrorists, and the lack of unique IMEI made it impossible to prove who made or received specific phone calls as they couldn’t be traced to a specific handset.

A ban on importing handsets without unique IMEI’s was imposed earlier this year.

Man-in-the-middle attacks demoed on smartphones

Carl — Sat, 14 Nov 2009 03:28:01 +0000

Security researchers have released a paper detailing successful man-in-the-middle attacks against several smartphones. They tested the Nokia N95, HTC Tilt, Android G1 and iPhone 3GS devices over unsecured Wi-Fi networks.

….. read the original article at ZD net, or the report at Smobile systems.