The Red Devil Bloggin' Company

Archive for December 31st, 2009

Your Mobile Is Cracked

Dec 31

Posted by red devil in Science/Space | No Comments

The encryption system used to protect 80 per cent of the world’s mobile phone calls has been cracked, claim a group of computer scientists who have published their findings online. Karsten Nohl told a conference of computer hackers in Berlin that he and his colleagues were trying to expose weaknesses in mobile communication security and hoped their findings would encourage wireless operators to improve their security.

He told the conference: “This shows that existing GSM security is inadequate.” The GSM association, the industry body that manages the GSM standard, said that although Mr Nohl’s findings made it theoretically possible to eavesdrop on a call, in practice such eavesdropping would be unlikely.

However, Simon Bransfield-Garth, chief executive of mobile encryption firm Cellcrypt, said that Mr Nohl’s work would make it far easier for criminals to intercept calls. “This will reduce the time to break a GSM call from weeks to hours,” he told the New York Times.

Most mobile phone calls worldwide are made using the GSM standard. GSM calls are protected by a 22-year-old encryption algorithm, known as A5/1. The algorithm, which is designed to prevent mobile phone calls from being intercepted by eavesdroppers, works by forcing mobile phones and bas stations to continually change frequencies. A typical phone conversation changes frequencies around 60 times.

The GSM Association has had a stronger algorithm, called A5/3, available since 2007 but few mobile network providers have made the upgrade.

Tags: , ,

Wigan Fall Off Their Own Pier!

Dec 31

Posted by red devil in Football | No Comments

Wigan failed to turn up at Old Trafford tonight and United found it oh so easy against the team that is rapidly becoming the Premier fall guys. United without coming out of first gear, found the net 5 times without reply, and if they had been at full strength and in form, could have eclipsed their own 9-0 Premiership scoring record which Spurs came close to eqaulising with their own 9-1 defeat of – Wigan!

It took United 28 minutes to actually find the ball in the back of Wigan’s net, with a goal from Wayne Rooney. This was followed by a goal from Carrick then, on the stroke of half time, our young brazilain defender, Rafael da Silva got in on the act with goal number 3.

Soon after half time Berbatov made it 4-0 on the 50th minute with Valencia scoring against his old club to wrap up the proceedings at 5-0. This result, at the turn of the year, puts United only 2 points behind Chelski with Arsenal only 2 points behind us, so the race to the finishing line is hotting up nicely thank you very much!! Considering that we have lost 5 games already by Xmas, 2 points behind Chelski show how close this division can be at times.

Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: , , , , , ,