Re: NYT on GSM Hack

[Lucky Green <shamrock@cypherpunks.to>]

There were rumors that governments had meddled with the A5/1 voice privacy
algorithm design, causing a weakening of A5/1. I am unaware of any proof
for these claims. A5/2 was of course designed to be weaker, a fact that
has been acknowledged by the GSM consortium.

We found undeniable proof that the keygen algorithm used by A5/1, called
A8, has been deliberately weakened by the designers. We found the smoking
gun. And it is smoking red hot.

Any weakening in A5 itself would come in addition to the weakening of A8.

--Lucky



On Tue, 14 Apr 1998, Duncan Frissell wrote:

> >   researchers believe they have
> >   stumbled across evidence that the system was deliberately
> >   weakened to permit Government surveillance.
> 
> I seem to recall that it was officially announced when the current GSM standard was released that it had been weakened at the request of European governments.  
> 
> Is this an example of anti-government advertising and promotion?  Counting on the fact that no one will recall that we already knew this.
> 
> DCF
> 
> 


-- Lucky Green <shamrock@cypherpunks.to> PGP v5 encrypted email preferred.
   "Tonga? Where the hell is Tonga? They have Cypherpunks there?"