SIM card makers hacked by NSA and GCHQ leaving cell networks wide open

In a new report on some of the confidential documents leaked by former NSA contractor Edward Snowden, The Intercept wrote that operatives from both the National Security Administration (NSA) and the British Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ) joined forces in April 2010 to crack mobile phone encryption. The Mobile Handset Exploitation Team (MHET) succeeded in stealing untold numbers of encryption keys from SIM card makers and mobile networks, specifically Dutch SIM card maker Gemalto, one of the largest SIM manufacturers in the world.