SAN JOSE, Calif.-L.M. Ericsson and Synacom signed a letter of intent to distribute cloning fraud prevention systems for digital Advanced Mobile Phone Service networks that provide authentication capability.
Synacom’s secure A-key management system is based on protecting the integrity of the A-keys used in authentication fraud prevention.
The A-key is programmed into the mobile phone at the point of sale, and simultaneously stored in the operator’s network; so the A-key never is visible to the subscriber, service provider or operator’s personnel.
There are about 79 million subscribers using D-AMPS/AMPS networks worldwide, some 24 million of whom are Ericsson subscribers, said Mary Paoli, marketing coordinator at Synacom.
Synacom said the secure A-key management system “will enable operators using Ericsson’s D-AMPS/AMPS technology to virtually eliminate fraud” by allowing them to instantly deny service access to calls placed from phones determined to be clones.
