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Business News/ Industry / Infotech/  Gemalto says US, UK spies probably attacked its network
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Gemalto says US, UK spies probably attacked its network

The maker of security software for SIM cards said the attacks didn't result in massive theft of keys used to encrypt conversations, messages and data traffic

Gemalto recorded the intrusions into external parts of its networks in 2010 and 2011. Photo: ReutersPremium
Gemalto recorded the intrusions into external parts of its networks in 2010 and 2011. Photo: Reuters

Paris: Gemalto NV, the maker of mobile-phone card software, said it detected sophisticated attacks on its networks that were probably carried out by US and UK intelligence agencies, but didn’t result in massive theft of keys used to encrypt conversations, messages and data traffic.

Gemalto recorded the intrusions into external parts of its networks in 2010 and 2011 that appear to be linked to operations by the UK’s Government Communications Headquarters and the US National Security Agency, the company said on Wednesday.

One of the world’s largest developers of security software for SIM cards, Gemalto is responding to a report by The Intercept last week saying spies started intercepting the encoders as they were being shipped to phone companies in countries including Afghanistan, Iran and India. The report cited documents from former NSA contractor Edward Snowden. The documents showed that SIM-card makers accounted for only a minority of the parties targeted, Gemalto said.

“As a digital security company, people try to hack Gemalto on a regular basis," Amsterdam-based Gemalto said. “These intrusions only affected the outer parts of our networks," it said about the 2010-2011 attacks.

Shares of Gemalto gained as much as 3.2% and rose 2.8% to €70.80 at 10:03am in Amsterdam, giving the company a market capitalization of €6.3 billion ($7.2 billion).

Banks, governments

It’s unlikely the spies managed to steal large amount of encryption keys that would have helped them monitor wireless communications without the need to get permission for wiretapping, the company said.

Gemalto said that by the time the attacks took place, it “had already widely deployed a secure transfer system with its customers and only rare exceptions to this scheme could have led to theft." Still, it advised customers to use newer SIM cards and encrypt their data, while phone carriers should use customized algorithms to lock and unlock traffic.

Even if the encryption keys were stolen, the intelligence services would only be able to spy on communications on second-generation mobile networks, while more advanced 3G and 4G systems aren’t vulnerable to this type of attack, Gemalto said. None of the company’s other products were impacted by the attack, it said.

Gemalto sells SIMs for phones and chips for bank cards. Under chief executive officer Olivier Piou, the company has diversified and developed security and encryption technology for passports, electronic contracts and payment services using mobiles and bank cards. The company’s clients include governments, financial institutions and credit card giants like Visa Inc. and MasterCard Inc., as well as companies such as Microsoft Corp. and Boeing Co.

Gemalto spends about €10 million each year on upgrading its security. It makes some adjustments according to customer feedback—its clients each year conduct their own security audits of Gemalto’s systems. About 500 such audits were done last year. Bloomberg

Cornelius Rahn in Berlin contributed to this story.

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Published: 25 Feb 2015, 04:24 PM IST
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