SIM card maker Gemalto has responded to claims made in recent Snowden leaks that government spies hacked encryption keys it used to protect cell phone communications.
In a statement made on Friday, Gemalto announced they would be investigating reports that in 2010 and 2011, a joint unit composed of operatives from the British Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ) and the American National Security Agency (NSA) hacked SIM card encryption keys engraved in Gemalto (Euronext NL0000400653 - GTO) and possibly other SIM vendors' cards.
Mark Kedgley, CTO New Net Technologies comments: “What we have learned from Snowden about PRISM and the pervasive snooping capabilities at the Government's disposal, including the ‘Black Bag’ catalog of hacking tools available to the NSA, goes a long way to blunt the shock of this revelation.
“The future looks even less reassuring for those with concerns about Government surveillance capabilities, with the Internet of Things era set to provide unlimited vantage points for even greater surveillance. Until there is a quantum leap in Encryption Technology (and maybe quantum cryptographic technology may yet provide a model for this) any communication is vulnerable to eavesdropping.”