The UK’s Government Communications Headquarters and the US National Security Agency started intercepting the encoders in 2010 as they were being shipped to phone companies, allowing them to monitor wireless communications and bypass the need to get permission for wiretapping.
The theft of encryption keys would potentially allow US and UK agencies to also unlock communications it had recorded but was previously unable to unlock.
A UK court ruled in February 2015 against the nation’s spy agencies for the first time, saying its mass collection of Internet and phone data was illegal until late 2014.
Gemalto is a global provider of digital security with more than 12,000 employees operating out of 85 offices and 25 research and software development centers, located in 44 countries. Gemalto delivers on their customers’ needs for personal mobile services, payment security, authenticated cloud access, identity and privacy protection, eHealthcare and eGovernment efficiency, ticketing and dependable machine-to-machine (M2M) applications.
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