Information revealed earlier this week in documents leaked by Edward Snowden to The Intercept suggest that the US & UK governments cooperated in a cyberattack that gave them access to the Keys which encrypt SIM cards, allowing them access to any and all data & calls from mobile phones. The news, which is the latest in a series of cybersecurity revelations that have seen previously perceived unhackable security standards reduced to rubble, has sent yet another shockwave through the telecom industry. This time, the target was the world’s largest manufacturer of SIM Cards (also used in Passports, IDs & more), Gemalto.
This morning, Gemalto issued a formal response:
Gemalto, the world leader in digital security, is 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.
We take this publication very seriously and will devote all resources necessary to fully investigate and understand the scope of such sophisticated techniques.
There have been many reported state sponsored attacks as of late, that all have gained attention both in the media and amongst businesses, this truly emphasizes how serious cyber security is in this day and age
While there is no apparent backlash with respect to clients – Gemalto is the world leader in their market, with other competitors imitated their technology, so it is not as if there are viable alternatives – the question has been raised yet again as to the limits of a government agency. The news comes just days after Barack Obama stated in an interview that the no state-sponsored espionage was happening on US soil, and that broad-sweeping wiretapping was not happening.
Both of these now to be questionable statements.