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City University of New York - City College

Sniffing, Decoding and Decryption of GSM Signals Using low cost hardware and Open-source software

Abstract

dc:description.abstract

<p>We have participated in the creation of almost two terabytes of tables aimed at cracking A5/1, the most common ciphering algorithm used in GSM. Given 114-bit of known plaintext, we are able to recover the session key with a hit rate of 19%. The tables are expected to be unique as they provide the best coverage yet known to the authors and research workers and they are the first step in a real-world passive attack against GSM. An initial investigation and analysis into the air interface of GSM were performed, from both a theoretical and practical point of view. These examinations would be essential in order to utilize the downloaded tables in a practical attack. Additionally, a rogue GSM network was built and deployed without enabling ciphering and frequency hopping. This active attack was purely based on opensource software and hardware, implying that real GSM networks could be spoofed with resources available to the general public</p>

Degree

thesis:*
Name thesis:degree_name
Master of Engineering (M.E.)
Level thesis:degree_level
Thesis
Discipline thesis:degree_discipline
Engineering
Year dc:date.available
2019

Author and committee

dc:creator, dc:contributor.*
Author dc:creator
  • Choudhry, Muhammad Talha
Contributors dc:contributor
  • Mohamed A. Ali

Subjects

dc:subject × 8

Identifiers

dc:identifier.*
Repository record dc:identifier
https://academicworks.cuny.edu/cc_etds_theses/870
OAI identifier oai:identifier
oai:academicworks.cuny.edu:cc_etds_theses-1872

Chain of custody

source
Harvested from
City University of New York - City College
Base URL
academicworks.cuny.edu/do/oai/
Last updated
2026-07-24
Source record
OAI-PMH GetRecord
citation

Choudhry, Muhammad Talha. Sniffing, Decoding and Decryption of GSM Signals Using low cost hardware and Open-source software. Thesis thesis, 2019. https://academicworks.cuny.edu/cc_etds_theses/870