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In the beginning of cell phones, security was too expensive. Telcos also like to do their own things, so GSM encryption wasn't built on best practices. And some
by toast0 2y ago
In the beginning of cell phones, security was too expensive. Telcos also like to do their own things, so GSM encryption wasn't built on best practices. And some countries forbid use of even GSM encryption.
Early mobile phone networks suffered from cloning, so work was done to improve verification of clients, but verifying the network wasn't seen as required. Telcos have been historically light on authentication and verification; so it's not surprising.
- Bender 2y agoAdding to this the GSM A3/A8 algo were broken shortly after they arrived in the US. The only mitigating control was my boss in a wireless provider and the FBI meeting up with someone that was going to demo breaking it. They were advised what prison they would be relocating to and the demo was called off. Rinse and repeat. This was before the internet was popular or even widely used. The word eventually got out.
- deleted 2y ago[deleted]