OXFORD, United Kingdom—The GSM Association has warned third-generation (3G) cell-phone operators that they need to reshape their organizations to provide security similar to that offered by Internet service providers (ISPs). The association claims that online hackers will target wireless Internet providers and has called on operators to deploy dedicated teams to combat the threat.
According to Hutchison 3G, which is partly owned by NTT DoCoMo and Dutch group KPN Mobile, the pressure from marketing departments to launch 3G applications will be significant, and security may not be on the top of their priority lists. “Better cell phones means more expensive content, meaning hackers would have an added incentive to go after mobiles,” said Philip Clark, Hutchison 3G’s head of fraud and investigations. “Criminals will not give up just because our technical security is higher than what is offered on today’s fixed-line service.”
Separately, SchlumbergerSema launched a cell-phone security system that compares a phrase spoken when switching on a mobile phone with a voiceprint stored on a Subscriber Identity Module (SIM) card. The company, which developed the technology in cooperation with Domain Dynamics and Mitsubishi Electric Telecom, said that using the SIM voice identification system provides operators with a simple and effective mechanism to address the widespread public concern over privacy and security.
