South African cellular network operator MTN Group on Friday issued a statement in a bid to allay concerns that the public — and in particular its subscribers — might have regarding other cellphone users tapping into their calls.
The operator said “it is near impossible” for anyone to eavesdrop on GSM cellular conversations or to clone the personal user information on a GSM SIM card.
“MTN subscribers can rest assured that their calls are safe from eavesdropping,” MTN South Africa managing director Karel Pienaar said.
“Cellular calls on the MTN network are safe from being tapped into by other cellular subscribers, because the GSM mobile network system used by MTN in South Africa is one of the most secure in the world.”
The company said it has a number of security measures in place to guarantee its users’ privacy.
“Firstly, GSM is a digital system which uses frequencies which cannot easily be scanned. This means that the United Kingdom’s eavesdropping scandals [where calls on an analogue network were recorded and made public] are highly unlikely to happen to South Africans calling another mobile phone on the MTN network.
“However, the same levels of security cannot be guaranteed on calls made outside the GSM network to a fixed-line network,” the statement reads.
“The second GSM security measure is that voice and data calls over a GSM network are encrypted while in the air, and can only be unscrambled at their destination base station by a secure algorithm.
“This makes it almost impossible to intercept voice calls or ‘steal’ documents sent over a GSM cellular network.”
It added that fixed-line fraud — where thieves use a subscriber’s line illegally via the local exchange — cannot be replicated on mobile networks, because a cellphone user’s unique identity is verified in several ways by the operator’s authentication centre each time the user makes a call.
To increase capacity on the network, the company said it continuously installs new links, which — due to human error — could cause cellular users to experience a crossed line. This means being directed to another subscriber or not being directed at all.
These however, are extremely isolated incidents and do not last for a long period. MTN tests its routing and network systems on an ongoing basis, which ensures that these cases are picked up and dealt with timeously.
“As a GSM operator, MTN belongs to the GSM Association’s Global Security Accreditation Scheme, which ensures that we keep up to date with the latest security developments and equipment,” Pienaar said. — I-Net Bridge