We hear a lot about Wi-Fi security, but I'd like to know how secure cellular
data transmission is (GSM, CDMA, etc.). How do they implement security?
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Kate Gerwig, Editorial Director
Cellular technologies use various methods for security (encryption, spread spectrum, digital
encoding, SIM chips for authentication, etc.). These features help to make cellular data
transmissions fairly secure -- all things considered -- but cellular is not without its
vulnerabilities. GSM encryption was recently cracked and it has been made
public that CDMA can be tapped into as well. Check out my response to a question another reader had
regarding
GSM security.
Obviously, anything involving ones and zeroes is never going to be completely secure. Unfortunately, for the security-conscious cellular user, there aren't as many security options. This all boils down to what you're trying to protect. Default security may be sufficient, it just depends on what information -- in this case voice data -- you're trying to protect and how far you're willing to go (money, time) to protect it.
This was first published in February 2004