Robert Siciliano explains how U.S. intelligence agencies obtained encryption keys for SIM cards, allowing them to decrypt virtually all mobile communications. With these keys, agencies can access every phone call, text message, and email on cellular networks retroactively, without warrants, enabling mass surveillance of recorded data.
Chapters
Well, Robert Siciliano is an identity theft expert with Hotspot Shield, and it's a firm which makes software used for securing internet connections. He joins us now live from Boston. Thank you so much for being with us. First question really has to be, should we be surprised by this?
Well, I'm sure the, uh, general public, uh, is surprised even though we've heard so many reports of government agencies snooping into our email communications and phone calls, but the level of access they have by being able to essentially decrypt all mobile communications certainly is alarming to the intelligence community, maybe not so much, but security professionals all over the world, I'm sure, are alarmed.
Robert, just to remind us what kind of information that the agencies could get hold of by having these encryption keys.
So certainly every single phone call, text message, even email communications, just about everything that can be communicated via a mobile phone that relies on the carrier's encryption methods essentially can be decrypted because it seems that the encryption keys are what has been pilfered by the millions.
Right. Now, usually, if I understand it correctly, agencies should get warrants for wiretaps and accessing this kind of material. By having these encryption keys, how does that affect the legal aspect of this?
So, with having the keys, it's, you know, essentially they have— they can unlock those communications at any given point in time. Government agencies right now are recording almost all of our communications via mobile, internet, and so forth. They're just massive, massive data dumps. So everything that's going through the wires, or wireless for that matter, is all being recorded, but it's encrypted. So having the decryption or encryption keys allows them to, at another time, essentially access any of those calls that are sent and received with those keys and listen in on them, you know, a year down the road.
Robert Siciliano is an identity theft expert with Hotspot Shield. It's always good to get your, your opinion on these things, Robert. Thank you very much indeed for being with us.
