encrypted cellphones

[Jyri Kaljundi]

On Wed, 31 Jan 1996, Bill Stewart wrote:

> providers don't.  The GSM phones used in much of the world have encryption,
> but it's apparently not very strong.

GSM A5 security is supposed to have effective key length of 40 bits, 
although according to some sources 64-bit session key is used. The 
algorithms are not freely available, so you never know.

I would say GSM security is still better than nothing. The problem is of 
course that only tha radio link is encrypted, not the connection out into 
public telephone network.

Juri Kaljundi, DigiMarket
jk at digit.ee