Vodacom: Eavesdropping 'impossible`

Johannesburg, 20 Aug 2004

Vodacom says it has rectified the "software malfunction" that allowed people to randomly eavesdrop on other Vodacom subscribers` calls.

The company`s COO, Pieter Uys, told 702 radio this morning that the eavesdropping problem - reported in The Star and the Pretoria News this morning - has been corrected.

Uys reassured mobile users that it is "no longer possible" for potential eavesdroppers to use a code, dialled in via the cell company`s customer care service, to listen in on random conversations between people on the Vodacom network.

"This problem was specific to the call centre and is not a general network problem. It is no longer possible [to eavesdrop]. It cannot happen," says Uys.

According to the newspaper reports, the people on the receiving end of the eavesdropping were unaware their conversations were being listened to, and in addition, the eavesdropper was not charged for the call.

The mobile operator`s media relations manager, Ivan Booth, says the potential eavesdroppers would dial in through the free customer care line, and then enter a certain code which would allow them to hear snippets of conversations.

"If they were listening in, they would still only be able to hear one side of the conversation and after a few seconds, the call would jump to another conversation," he says.

"Basically, the people listening in would not get much out of it, because they would have no way of knowing who was talking and would only hear a small part of the conversation."

The newspaper reports suggested that many of the eavesdroppers were schoolchildren, who considered it fun to tap into people`s conversations during their lunch break.

GSM safety

A source inside the government`s security establishment has confirmed that the technology to tap into a cellular conversation exists.

According to the source, several government agencies, including the National Intelligence Agency and the SAPS intelligence branch, have the ability to eavesdrop on a conversation.

He does assure the public, however, that although these agencies can target specific cellphones in much the same way as a landline wiretap, they need to follow the correct legal procedures - such as obtaining a warrant - before they are allowed to proceed with such an action.

Meanwhile, Vodacom rival MTN has moved to reassure its subscribers that it is "virtually impossible" for anyone to eavesdrop on GSM cellular conversations or to clone the personal user information on a GSM SIM card.

"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 SA is one of the most secure in the world," says Karel Pienaar, MD of MTN SA.

He says that because GSM is a digital system, which uses frequencies that cannot easily be scanned, eavesdropping scandals like those that have occurred in the UK - where calls on an analogue network were recorded and made public - are unlikely to happen in SA.

"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," says Pienaar.

"This makes it almost impossible to intercept voice calls or 'steal` documents sent over a GSM cellular network."

He says that, due to human error, cellular users may occasionally experience a crossed line, but these are isolated incidents and do not last for long, since MTN tests its routing and network systems on an ongoing basis, ensuring that these cases are dealt with timeously.