[LINK] Vodafone software problems risk public safety

[Tom Worthington]

At 01:27 AM 9/07/2008, Saliya Wimalaratne wrote:
>... There _do_ appear to be numerous problems with the V billing system...
>
>I must confess I never thought of linking the failing billing system to
>terrorism ...

Vodafone's mobile phone network has previously been hacked in another 
country, compromising security of the political, judicial, police and 
military arms of government. Vodafone Australia is unable, or 
unwilling, to get its online billing system to work properly. It is 
therefore reasonable to ask if Vodafone's other systems in Australia 
are being properly maintained.

A well documented example of how a problem with a poorly maintained 
Vodafone system has implications for terrorism is detailed in  "The 
Athens Affair" By  Vassilis Prevelakis and Diomidis Spinellis, IEEE 
Spectrum, July 2007 <http://www.spectrum.ieee.org/jul07/5280>.

In this instance more than 100 senior people, who were customers of 
Vodafone Greece, had their mobile phones bugged. Those bugged 
included the Prime Minister, the ministers of national defense, 
foreign affairs and justice, plus senior staff of the ministries of 
National Defense, Public Order, Merchant Marine, Foreign Affairs, 
Hellenic Navy general staff and an employee at the United States Embassy.

Hackers attacked the Vodafone switches and exploited the system's 
facility designed for legal phone taps, modifying the system 
software. The attack was eventually discovered when it interfered 
with the delivery of text messages. Why the software change was not 
discovered in routine system maintenance has not been publicly 
revealed. Investigators were hampered by Vodafone deleting the system 
logs and by one of the engineers being found dead in an apparent suicide.



Tom Worthington FACS HLM tom.worthington at tomw.net.au Ph: 0419 496150
Director, Tomw Communications Pty Ltd            ABN: 17 088 714 309
PO Box 13, Belconnen ACT 2617                      http://www.tomw.net.au/
Adjunct Senior Lecturer, Australian National University