12 February 2006

A writes:

Last week the Greek Government went public about a major breakthrough at the heart of the system of VODAFONE GREECE. Unknown people, or agency, had installed illegal software and managed to by-pass the security instillations of ERICSSON's IMS (Interception Managment System) The cell phones of the Greek PM Kostas Karamanlis, several ministers, the National Defence Ministry, the Chief of the Police and the antiterrorist squad and a number of Greek members of leftist organizations were illegally intercepted.

ERICSSON admited that the IMS was installed but not activated. The illegal software bypassed the whole security system, raising questions about the safety of GSM communications (this is VODAFONE and ERICSSON that we are talking about) and the protection of privacy.

It is the largest breakthrough INTERNATIONALLY becouse it was mobilized from inside the company. This has never happened in the past. I send you a copy of  ERICSSON's IMS User Manual and ask any person who has any idea of how ERICSSON's security INSTALLATION was bypassed. I hope to see the answer published.

http://cryptome.org/ericsson-ims.zip (Zipped PDF, 292 pages, 1.6MB)