Gemalto Plans to Reveal Hack Probe Findings in Two Days

Responding to reports last week that its encryption keys had been stolen by U.S. and British spies five years ago, Gemalto contends its products are secure and announced it would reveal results of its investigation into the claims at a press conference Feb. 25 in Paris.  

"Initial conclusions already indicate that Gemalto SIM products, as well as banking cards, passports and other products and platforms, are secure and the company doesn't expect to endure significant financial prejudice," Amsterdam-based Gemalto stated in a Feb. 23 press release.

Operatives of the British Government Communications Headquarters and the American National Security Agency reportedly hacked the SIM card encryption keys engraved in Gemalto and possibly other SIM vendors' cards.

The report from The Intercept was based on revelations from whistleblower Edward Snowden, a former NSA employee.

Gemalto said it will devote the necessary resources to "investigate and understand" the scope of such sophisticated techniques.

The revelation alarmed the payments industry because encryption of data and SIM cards represents a vital aspect of data security to complement other methods such as EMV chip cards or tokenization of stored data.