Wireless security seems a long way down the line; researchers find serious flaw in encryption software for digital signals
Article Abstract:
Researchers at UC Berkeley and Counterpane Systems found major flaws in the encryption software for new digital cellular telephones, demonstrating how voice and data traffic could be intercepted. The security breach could be a major problem for phone companies who have promised privacy with digital wireless communications. Eavesdropping equipment is already being sold to law enforcement agencies and phone companies. Cordless and cellular phones frequently pick up other channels, and inexpensive scanners enable eavesdropping. While scanner manufacturers have been ordered to stop their scanners from accessing cellular traffic, emergency scanners for hospital and police agencies can monitor all channels. Currently, two digital phones can transmit without the average scanner intercepting the call, but a digital-to-analog conversation could be monitored. Analog phones make up the vast majority of phones on the market, with 42 million analog cell phones sold to date, with another 15.2 million expected to sell in 1997. Seventy-five million cordless phones are installed in US homes, with another 40 million expected to sell in 1997.
Publication Name: The Wall Street Journal Western Edition
Subject: Business, general
ISSN: 0193-2241
Year: 1997
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No tongues too twisted for computer
Article Abstract:
Sandiway Fong, an employee of the NEC Research Institute, is researching linguistic elements of various languages according to linguist Noam Chomsky's rules for analyzing language. His hope is someday to enable software developers to create sophisticated foreign language translation programs. Fong is attempting to give his Sun Sparcstation 2 a fundamental understanding of language in accordance with Chomsky's rules. He is programming the computer to take sentences in various languages, analyze them and determine whether or not they are successful. He has completed a comparison of English with Japanese, is working on Dutch, and will next compare English with French and German. After he has completed his programming, Fong hopes to develop a program that translates by comparing principles of sentences in two different languages.
Publication Name: The Wall Street Journal Western Edition
Subject: Business, general
ISSN: 0193-2241
Year: 1992
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