GSM Mobile Security

September 2011 to February 2012

In December 2010 a German hacker demonstrated that GSM networks can be quite easily compromised if mobile operators fail to implement specific security measures. He also published a ranking which showed KPN performing poorly vis-à-vis its competitors, which was wholly inconsistent with KPN’s commercial claim to have the best network in the Netherlands. To counter this, KPN wanted to quickly and discreetly implement a number of security measures.

I have set up and successfully implemented this delicate project in just a few months. The primary risk was that improved security measures might negatively impact other key performance indicators, such as call setup time. To control this, I set up an extensive pilot and test programme to check the effects of each security measure prior to release in the live network.