Researcher Karsten Nohl Finds GSM Phone Vulnerability Could Expose Billions Around The World To Scams

By Tarmo Virki

BERLIN (Reuters) - Vulnerability in a widely used wireless technology could allow hackers to gain remote control of phones And instruct them to send text messages or make calls, according to an expert on mobile phone security.

They could use the vulnerability in the GSM network technology, which is used by billions of people in about 80 percent of the global mobile market, to make calls or send texts to expensive, premium phone and messaging services in scams, said Karsten Nohl, head of Germany's Security Research Labs.

Similar attacks against a small number of smartphones have been done before, but the new attack could expose any cellphone using GSM technology.

"We can do it to hundreds of thousands of phones in a short timeframe," Nohl told Reuters in advance of a presentation at a hacking convention in Berlin on Tuesday.

The convention takes place just days after U.S. security think tank Strategic Forecasting Inc (Stratfor) said its website had been hacked and that some of the names of corporate subscribers had been made public. Activist hacker group Anonymous claimed responsibility.

Attacks on corporate landline phone systems are fairly common, often involving bogus premium-service phone lines that hackers set up across Eastern Europe, Africa and Asia.

Fraudsters make calls to the numbers from hacked business phone systems or mobile phones, then collect their cash and move on before the activity is identified.

The phone users typically don't identify the problem until after they receive their bills and telecommunications carriers often end up footing at least some of the costs.

Even though Nohl will not present details of attack at the conference, he said hackers will usually replicate the code needed for attacks within a few weeks.

T-MOBILE, SFR LEAD RANKING

Mobile networks of Germany's T-Mobile and France's SFR offer their clients best protection against online criminals wanting to intercept their calls or track their movements, shows a new ranking Nohl will demonstrate at his presentation.

The new ranking, at gsmmap.org, lets consumers to see how their operators are performing and lets anyone to participate in measurement of their carriers' security.

Researchers reviewed 32 operators in 11 countries and rated their performance based on how easy it was for them to intercept the calls, impersonate someone's device or track the device.

"None of the networks protects users very well," Nohl said.

The sample is set to grow from 32 carriers dramatically next year as the tool enables anyone to participate in gathering of the data.

Nohl said mobile telecom operators could easily improve their clients' security, in many cases by just updating their software.

"Mobile network is by far the weakest part of the mobile ecosystem, even when compared to a lot attacked Android or iOS devices," he said.

Researchers reviewed operators in Austria, Belgium, the Czech Republic, France, Germany, Hungary, Italy, Morocco, Slovakia, Switzerland and Thailand.

(Additional reporting by Jim Finkle; Editing by Matt Driskill and Vinu Pilakkott)

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Comments

[DeuxExMachina]

06:23 AM on 12/28/2011

Isn't GSM 2G? Aren't the telecomms companies pushing 3G at the moment for mobiles and 4G for wireless broadband?.

[TwoZeroOZ]

02:30 PM on 12/28/2011

GSM is a standard. GSM can be 2g, 3g, and 4g.

[rotorhead1871]

10:51 PM on 12/27/2011

time to dump your cell...get a prepay....then throwaway!!!!....otherwise they got you...

[empress trudy]

05:29 PM on 12/27/2011

Aren't you the people who only a day ago were laughing at how bad the FBI is at systems integration? Now you're screaming that Mother Government should be given the role to rule over everything in this instance and why the hell didn't they?

[Madhyamika]

03:44 PM on 12/27/2011

Another example of the government agencies failing to protect the small guys. As long as government agencies do not outlaw the premium-service phone lines and their scam practices consumers are exposed. The mobile phone companies are willing and able accomplices of these criminal operators because they get a cut of the lucrative charge. By the time the cellphone customers get the bill it is often too late because the phone companies usually refuse to drop the charges. These are some of the more concrete actionable items that the Occupy Wall Street groups can pressure for immediate action.

[poster1122]

05:14 PM on 12/27/2011

The premium service phone lines that are scams are typically run out of Russia, where US law has no effect. In the US and most (if not all) the EU, the premium accounts are typically used by things like the Red Cross, political campaigns, and other charities that you can donate money to.

[Madhyamika]

07:29 PM on 12/27/2011

What about passing legistlation so that local mobile phone carriers are required to block these premium message scam operators (even those off shore) on a government's list? And why do Red Cross, politicial campaigns and other charities need to go on premium service instead of regular text messages - that makes fund raising even more expensive?

[fortressfountain]

02:49 PM on 12/27/2011

Antivirus is a scam, they can get through anything and everything-some unknown.

[poster1122]

04:12 PM on 12/27/2011

It depends on which "they" you're talking about. The elite hackers usually just need time to breach a system. But most hackers, like most anything, aren't elite by definition. Most are kiddy scripters who make use of tools written by someone else (very often an elite hacker).

Anti-virus is generally pretty effective against ordinary hackers, but not particularly against the upper echelons. So I wouldn't exactly call it a "scam" any more than I would call the locks for your house or car a scam just because they probably won't hold up against skilled thieves.

[Radx28]

02:39 PM on 12/27/2011

Any time that we stake out new turf, it is a sure bet that a police force will be needed to protect it :-)

The Republican idea that the 'capitalists (markets) will police themselves' is the scam that underlies all criminal activity that has ever taken place over the history of mankind.............most clearly captured in the cartoon image of the perennial 'snake oil salesman' :-)

In the absence of the ability to harness people (through labor unions, and other people centric organizations), Republicans have opted to organize the much less representative, but influential 'snake oil salesmen' who can and will scam their public to maximize profits for them, their relatives, and their pay-to-play friends.

[Radx28]

02:22 PM on 12/27/2011

The hallmark of 'small government' is the enabling 'free markets', including the crooks, to harness and divert 'other peoples money and resources' to their own benefit. The smart small government advocates are buying stock in the capitalist entities (companies) that will benefit..........and selling you short!

[wilray]

01:14 PM on 12/27/2011

Because I don't use my cell phone very much (I consider it more of an emergency tool), I switch carriers and got a prepay phone where I only pay $25 every 3 months. It's also immune to these overcharges. I now pay less that a fifth of what I used to pay for cell services.

[jdenham]

12:56 PM on 12/27/2011

Guess the next step someone wil be selling me anti virus software for my cell phone. And like the virus software for my computer it will be a expensive and very ineffective. I can not prove it but I believe some of the virus software that finds it way on to our computer is developed by the same companies that sell us the software to combat it.

[jke82]

01:09 PM on 12/27/2011

sure ya can prove it look up mycleanpc.com complaints.........what they do is advertise a "free" pc checkup, you download the "pc checkup" and boom all of a sudden your computer will run for crap, then you have to pay them120$ to remove the crap they put on your pc with the "free pc checkup" not so free now is it?

[Radx28]

02:27 PM on 12/27/2011

Mistrust in the institutions that are supposedly protecting us is a symptom of our current social malaise. This mistrust is partly a factor of the complexity of our world (no one can truly and certainly understand and vet the technologies that we depend upon), and partly a factor of Republican propaganda that has been spewing negative messages for decades about the institutions that we need to protect us from the downside of these complexities.

Small, constrained government is not the answer..........it is a large part of the problem :-)

[MikeyJaii]

12:52 PM on 12/27/2011

It's bound to happen

[Parade Keegan]

12:50 PM on 12/27/2011

Wasn't there a story about something like this? The Cell? Creepy.

[wilray]

03:00 PM on 12/27/2011

with Jennifer Lopez?

[leafericson]

03:04 PM on 12/27/2011

Women in cell block 7 .....;-)

[Parade Keegan]

04:00 PM on 12/27/2011

No, no, the Stephen King book "Cell", I errored in saying "the cell".

[Artos]

12:29 PM on 12/27/2011

I think it's funny. The Corporations are the ones who like to keep tabs on us, and don't mind putting GPS locaters in our phones so that they can track our purchases, how we shop or spend our time etc., but let that technology backfire on them and it's like total OUTRAGE. "But.. but.. But you people can't do that back at us. We are the Omnipotent Corporations and we are the ones who have the power. This just isn't right that you should use our own conniving against us." My answer to them is. "Yeah ,Yeah go tell it to the Marines, and up yours."

[Radx28]

02:29 PM on 12/27/2011

A major advantage of capitalism is immunity for the capitalists :-) When is the last time that your lawyer, accountant, or doctor paid you back for his/her mistakes (assuming that you were fortunate enough to even know that there was a mistake)?

[FredSanders]

12:24 PM on 12/27/2011

Ever hear a commercial that says "We are the most secure network in America, we value your privacy?" Even they won't go there!

NO? Because they don't.

[FredSanders]

12:22 PM on 12/27/2011

If the network Corporations could easily update their software to increase security, then why on earth do they not do it?
Like I always say, the wireless cell phone networkers are modern day Pirates, they just lack the peg leg and parrot, your privacy and security were not ever much concern to pirates.

[RecreationalPilot]

12:19 PM on 12/27/2011

GSM was always considered the more secure and advanced network.

Just do a quick search on CDMA & h-a-c-k-i-n-g. The 4G CDMA was broken at DEFCON 2011.

[RecreationalPilot]

12:25 PM on 12/27/2011

CDMA had been infiltrated many times, why is this possible GSM threat a story?

===

Is it because GSM was considered to be the most secure that CDMA?

Is it because there is a big company spreading PAC money around wants to dominate?

===

Why? Why not post the numerous security flaws with CDMA in this article for comparison?