Mobile Phone Secret codes being hacked

The end of 2009 and the first couple of weeks of 2010 has seen the world of cryptography, and more specifically data encryption, thrust into the media spotlight.
News of “Secret codes being hacked” that “Rocked the mobile phone establishment” get splashed across the tabloids as mobile phone users are told their signals can now be hacked.

And more recently, but with less mainstream fanfare (well in fact none to be honest…) a group of academics have managed to factorise a 768-bit RSA public key resulting in some of the more technical media questioning the future of RSA.

So what is the importance of these announcements and are they something your boss needs to worry about?

This short article will explore the recent mobile phone encryption attack, and a follow up article, when I get a chance, will explore the issues behind the RSA key factoring.