» Security » Why ?
Why do you need a mobile phone with speech encryption which is separate from the security
functions of the GSM networks?
Mobile communication has entirely grasped modern life. GSM is the world’s largest and most important telecommunication system with 722 network providers in 215 countries and 200 core manufacturers. It is a 500 billion € industry (625 billion USD) industry. GSM serves 4.2 billion customers worldwide and the number of mobile phone subscribers increases every day. It took more than a century to provide one billion customers with fixed network connections. GSM achieved this in less than 12 years! Worldwide more people have access to GSM networks than to fresh water.
In all economic and political areas mobile communication has become a daily necessity and routine. Users around the Globe exchange confidential and sensitive information without considering how the complex infrastructure of GSM networks treats that information. On reflection confidence in the protection and preservation of confidential information by the networks is a dangerous misperception. Consequently, the existing risk evaluations have to be radically reassessed.
The GSM system was conceived and standardized at the end of the 1980ies. The basic specifications and standards for system security ware frozen in 1990 with the aim of achieving a high degree of international standards and reliable basis for investments. The GSM system’s economic success confirms this policy. However, this put a stop to further developments of the security functions of the GSM system. The system has a security standard reflecting challenges and the technological possibilities of the 1990ies and not those of the digital 21st century. This dynamic evolution is a big challenge hard to overcome by private users and business organizations as well as by public authorities and legislators, international organizations and the International Telecommunication Union (ITU).
There is no functioning long term dynamic GSM planning.