GCHQ and NSA stole SIM encryption keys


The Daily Telegraph reports that the US National Security Agency (NSA) and its British counterpart GCHQ obtained encryption keys of the global SIM manufacturer Gemalto, by hacking into the company’s computer systems.

Gemalto which is based in the Netherlands is the world’s largest manufacturer of SIM cards.  Access to the encryption keys would give the NSA and GCHQ a hugely expanded surveillance capability as encrypted voice calls could be easily decrypted.

The revelations came from documents leaked by former NSA contractor Edward Snowden. The story was originally broken by the investigative website Intercept and the original story can be found here.