Hackers can listen to GSM calls

The annual Hacking at Random conference brought with it the stunning news that with just a laptop and $500 dollars anyone can listen to GSM calls within the next six month period.

Karsten Nohl is behind the development, who stated that he learned how to break the encryption of a standard GSM mobile.

This will make it much easier for criminals to hack into telephone calls and listen to conversations and information that they should not have privy to.

It also means that now anyone can face the threat of having their phone calls tapped.

Vice President and Practice Director of ABI Research, Stan Schatt, said that the news could negatively impact the mobile industry.

He also stated that this is not something that is made up, and that the threat is very real to all individuals.

Schatt went on to state that hackers in the US can already access wireless LANs so there is no reason to think that they will not make full use of their abilities to hack into mobile networks as well.

The Hacking at Random conference also displayed a basic prototype of the GSM network that hackers created, using an antennae hanging from a tree that was connected to a PC that used the open source OpenBSC network.

The demonstration showed delegates in attendance that creating one’s own GSM network is fairly simple and cheap, making it possible for hackers to use existing radio waves to build their own untraceable networks.

On the brighter side, such a display shows that in disaster areas it would be easy to construct a GSM network to provide coverage to rescue workers and those left stranded.