I bet you remember perfectly the news I wrote about the GSM code being cracked, because that, my friends, is something one cannot forget, or at least not so easy. Well, just like expected, since the GSM code was not only cracked but also made publicly available over torrent websites, the hack continues, with today's top line being, here goes, the 3G as well!

I wish I were kidding you actually, but am not, so that's why I for one am really taking considerations of switching over to BlackBerry services for my private calls. What do I have so important and so secret to talk about? Other than the biggest and, need I say, profitable trafficking of USB hubs in the world, I would really like to keep my private phone calls private. Really now, if I wanted to be heard by somebody else than my interlocutor, I could always go into public markets and scream out loud.

Getting back on track, with the proper excuses for my outburst, mind you, I would like to inform you that thanks to the publicly available 64-bit GSM code, the people of Israel's Weizmann Institute of Science probably had no hassle at all when decrypting the KASUMI system, which is a 128-bit A5/3 algorithm implemented across the 3G networks. Even better (hope you can scent the irony here), they did it in less than two hours - well isn't that just comforting?

Detailing the process a little, it was dubbed "related-key sandwich attack" in which multiple values of known differentials are processed via first seven rounds of KASUMI. This outputs quartets that are identified sharing key differences, which can be used for obtaining subkey materials in round eight to build up the 128-bit key. Sure, this seems complicated for us non-coding people, but what is more to worry is that the process was rendered on the go, using just one PC. Shame goes to the GSM Association that gave up MISTY, namely a much stronger predecessor algorithm and went for KASUMI.


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