June 2, 2023

Flaw in old mobile phone encryption code could be used for snooping

Flaw in old mobile phone encryption code could be used for snooping
Flaw in old mobile phone encryption code could be used for snoopingFlaw in old mobile phone encryption code could be used for snooping
Woman holding a phone

It’s possible that some older phones may be vulnerable to a data encryption flaw

Getty Images/Tetra images RF

An algorithm from the 1990s used to encrypt mobile phone data was deliberately weakened to allow eavesdropping, claims a team of cryptanalysts. It is possible the flaw could still allow access to some phones in use today.

“It’s a nice weakness, from a technical point of view. But it’s still not good to build it. Probably many people were involved,” says Christof Beierle at Ruhr University Bochum in Germany, part of the team …