NSA Hacks SIM Cards

Shaun Keating Edward Snowden, Hackers, Net Neutrality, NSA

NSA/GCHQ stole millions of SIM cards’ encryption keys.

Documents leaked by Edward Snowden show NSA and GCHQ stole SIM card encryption keys from Gemalto.

  1. The GCHQ is Britain’s NSA.
  2. Your phone’s SIM card contains a secret encryption key.
  3. Your carrier/provider also has that same encryption key.
  4. To connect, your SIM and provider check that they keys match.
  5. If they do, all communication between them is encrypted.
  6. Carriers like Verizon, AT&T do not make their own SIM cards.
  7. Gemalto is one of the world’s largest makers of SIM cards.
  8. The NSA/GCHQ hacked into Gemalto’s computer network.
  9. They stole millions of SIM card encryption keys.
  10. This lets them access communications without a wiretap.

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