The Chaos Computer Club has told the FT that in the couple of months it will be releasing code capable of cracking GSM with just a laptop and an antenna. In comments made to the German edition of the Financial Times, the hacking group claims that governments, and criminals, are already using the technique which can break the encryption used to protect 2G GSM calls in near-real time using existing systems. The group says a public exposure of the technique will take place in the next month or two and allow anyone equipped with a laptop and an antenna to listen in to GSM phone calls. GSM uses a range of algorithms for key generation, authentication, and encrypting connections. This latest crack is focused on the last element which relies on a range of algorithms known as A5 and numbered from zero to three. A5/0 indicates that no encryption is used, such as in countries still under ITAR* restrictions, A5/1 is the European standard that seems to be the target of this latest breach, A5/2 is used in the USA and generally considered weaker than A5/1, while A5/3 is the strongest of the lot and mandated by the 3G GSM standard.
