Protection in Mobile Communications

Introduction In recent years mobile communication has surpassed all expectations. Availability virtually everywhere in Europe, increasingly favorable prices and world-wide service speak for themselves. Mobile voice communication has become a mass product. GSM (Global System for Mobile Communication) is the best known and most widely used mobile communication standard. It is a European development, which has also found global acceptance. Unfortunately, the advance of security standards has not kept pace with the dissemination of mobile communication. In spite of this, the security functions which prevent eavesdropping and unauthorized use are emphasized by the mobile phone companies. Frequently (almost always), the fact that encryption is restricted to the radio transmission is concealed. Disputes between a user and the mobile phone company concerning billing cannot be resolved on a formal basis (e.g. digital signatures of the billing data). The existing mobile communication