Subject: [saag] Harald Welte's blog. A5/2

From: Michael Richardson <[email-masked]>
Date: Sat, 27 Nov 2010 09:17:56 -0500

Bruce Schneier blogged about Harald Welte's research about A5/2's withdrawal:

http://laforge.gnumonks.org/weblog/2010/11/12/

  A brief history on the withdrawal of the A5/2 ciphering algorithm in
  GSM Recently, I wanted to investigate when and how A5/2 has been
  withdrawn from both GSM networks and GSM phones alike. Unfortunately
  there was no existing article discussing this history online, so I went
  through dozens of meeting reports and other documents that I could find
  online to recover what had happened. 

  If you don't know what this is all about: It is about the A5/2
  air-interface encryption algorithm that was used in certain GSM networks
  until about 2005-2007. 

  A5/2 was specified as a security by obscurity algorithm behind closed
  doors in the late 1980ies. It was intentionally made weaker than it's
  (already weak) brother A5/1. The idea was to sell only equipment with
  A5/2 to the countries of the eastern block, while the less-weak A5/1
  encryption was to be used by the western European countries. 

I know that I am preaching to the choir here -- but sometimes it's good
when you talk to crytographic muggles to have real life examples of the 
downfalls.

-- 
]       He who is tired of Weird Al is tired of life!           |  firewalls  [
]   Michael Richardson, Sandelman Software Works, Ottawa, ON    |net architect[
] [email-masked] http://www.sandelman.ottawa.on.ca/ |device driver[
   Kyoto Plus: watch the video <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kzx1ycLXQSE>
	               then sign the petition.