The Great SIM Heist
How Spies Stole the Keys to the Encryption Castle
MERICAN AND BRITISH spies hacked into the internal
computer network of the largest manufacturer of SIM cards in the world,
stealing encryption keys used to protect the privacy of cellphone
communications across the globe, according to top-secret documents
provided to The Intercept by National Security Agency whistleblower Edward Snowden.
The hack was perpetrated by a joint unit consisting of operatives
from the NSA and its British counterpart Government Communications
Headquarters, or GCHQ. The breach, detailed in a secret 2010 GCHQ document,
gave the surveillance agencies the potential to secretly monitor a
large portion of the world’s cellular communications, including both
voice and data.
computer network of the largest manufacturer of SIM cards in the world,
stealing encryption keys used to protect the privacy of cellphone
communications across the globe, according to top-secret documents
provided to The Intercept by National Security Agency whistleblower Edward Snowden.
The hack was perpetrated by a joint unit consisting of operatives
from the NSA and its British counterpart Government Communications
Headquarters, or GCHQ. The breach, detailed in a secret 2010 GCHQ document,
gave the surveillance agencies the potential to secretly monitor a
large portion of the world’s cellular communications, including both
voice and data.
