How Secure Is The Merkel-Phone?

(Updated: March 30, 2015)

In an article yesteryear the High German magazine Der Spiegel it was said that the NSA in all likelihood also eavesdropped on the mobile telephone of chancellor Angela Merkel, which is dubbed Merkel-Phone inwards pop media. Der Spiegel provided piffling detail, simply according to an article inwards Die Welt, the old jail mobile telephone phone number of Merkel was mentioned inwards a document provided yesteryear Edward Snowden.

Der Spiegel presented their evidence to the High German government, which led to an investigation yesteryear High German word in addition to safety agencies. Apparently the cloth proved to travel trustworthy in addition to chancellor Merkel expressed her anger inwards the media in addition to fifty-fifty inwards a telephone phone telephone to president Obama.

Here nosotros volition accept a closer await at how the official mobile telephone of chancellor Merkel has been secured.

UPDATE #1:
H5N1 novel article yesteryear Der Spiegel says that a telephone number of chancellor Merkel was on an NSA target listing since 2002. The document doesn't nation what variety of communications were monitored or whether actual content had been recorded.

> Much to a greater extent than virtually this: How NSA targeted chancellor Merkel's mobile phone

> See also: New interpretations of NSA monitoring the High German chancellor

High German chancellor Angela Merkel using
her onetime Nokia 6260 Slide phone
(photo: dapd, March 1, 2011)

If NSA targeted Merkel's old jail mobile telephone phone number, it's probable the i that belonged to her onetime smart phone, a Nokia 6260 Slide. This telephone was used heavily yesteryear Merkel from Oct 2009 until July 2013. Voice communications through this device were secured yesteryear a organisation called SecuVOICE, made yesteryear the small-scale Düsseldorf based fellowship Secusmart GmbH, which was founded inwards 2007.

Initially, the solution provided yesteryear Secusmart could same way they collected text messages of the Mexican president).

Another slowly selection could lead maintain been the monitoring and/or intercepting of the non-secure mobile telephone that chancellor Merkel uses, which was provided yesteryear her political political party (so no authorities coin is used for political party politics) in addition to which she evidently also uses for her individual conversations. For convenience, many politicians frequently role their individual jail mobile telephone phones for authorities draw organisation too.

UPDATE #2:
On Oct 27, the High German tabloid newspaper BILD revealed that according to anonymous word officials, it was president Obama who ordered the monitoring of chancellor Merkel's communication in addition to that NSA was evidently able to intercept her newest secure mobile telephone (see below). Only the secure landline telephone inwards her component subdivision wasn't intercepted.

UPDATE #3:
In an unusual rapid in addition to specific response, NSA said that managing director Alexander "did non beak over alongside President Obama inwards 2010 an alleged unusual word performance involving High German Chancellor Merkel, nor has he always discussed alleged operations involving Chancellor Merkel. News reports claiming otherwise are non true".

UPDATE #4:
Already on Oct 24, the High German newspaper FAZ learned that the Snowden-document seen yesteryear Der Spiegel mentioned the number of the jail mobile telephone phone provided to chancellor Merkel yesteryear her political party, which has no safety features. There's no evidence that NSA targeted or fifty-fifty broke the encrypted communications from her secure mobile phone.

SecuSUITE @ BlackBerry 10

Since final July, chancellor Merkel uses the novel BlackBerry Z10, which is equipped alongside the SecuSUITE system, consisting of Obama's Blackberry inwards 2009).

High German chancellor Angela Merkel at the CeBIT 2013, showing
the BlackBerry Z10 alongside Secusmart encryption chip
(photo: Bundesregierung/Bergmann, March 4, 2013)

H5N1 novel feature, which is touchstone available for this phone, is BlackBerry Balance. This enables users to lead identify both personal information in addition to component subdivision run information securely separated inwards dissimilar partitions. In the personal department i tin freely role social media in addition to downloaded apps. These are separated from the draw organisation section, which tin travel automatically configured alongside draw organisation applications in addition to email through the Blackberry Enterprise Service 10 server. Users tin easily switch from the personal to the draw organisation profile yesteryear entering a password. Stored user information are protected via 256-bit AES encryption.

For secure communications, the SecuSUITE application is added yesteryear inserting a Micro-SD card, called the Secusmart Security Card, inwards the retention carte du jour slot of the phone. This carte du jour contains a tamper-proof SmartMX P5CT072 crypto-controller made yesteryear NXP, alongside a PKI-coprocessor for performing the user authentication in addition to a high speed coprocessor for encrypting vocalism in addition to other information using the 128-bit AES algorithm. These encryption keys are transmitted using the Elliptic Curve Diffie Hellman (ECDH) protocol.

Update:
The microSD carte du jour used for SecuVOICE was peculiarly developed for Secusmart yesteryear Giesecke & Devrient Secure Flash Solutions (G&D SFS), which is a articulation corporation of G&D in addition to Phison Electronics Corporation. G&D is a major High German manufacturer of SIM cards in addition to related safety products. Also contained on the micro-SD carte du jour is a 4GB flash memory, which allows users to shop their data, similar MS messages, contacts in addition to calendar entries, inwards an encrypted format.

The BlackBerry Z10 alongside SecuSUITE application has been approved yesteryear the High German authorities for role at the classification degree Restricted (in German: Verschlussache - Nur für den Dienstgebrauch, abbreviated: VS-NfD). It's somewhat surprising that this is the lowest level, which mightiness travel explained yesteryear the fact that communications are encrypted using alone 128-bit keys. Nowadays, it's by in addition to large advised to role keys alongside 256-bit length. Another argue is that a commercial available smart telephone device is used, which is less secure than a custom made one.

For conversations at a higher classification level, High German authorities in addition to armed services officials are jump to dedicated landline phones, in addition to conversations classified every bit Top Secret (German: Streng Geheim) may alone accept identify from within rooms that are secured against eavesdropping. Such high degree vocalism in addition to information communications are encrypted through the Elcrodat 6-2 system.

Nonetheless, the High German federal authorities ordered 5000 secured BlackBerry devices, costing around 2500,- euro a piece. The novel BlackBerry 10 alongside SecuSUITE was outset presented yesteryear Secusmart at the information technology draw organisation number in addition to conference CeBIT 2013 inwards March:

The SecuVOICE solution is also available inwards the Netherlands, where it is (or was?) sold yesteryear Fox-IT in addition to approved yesteryear the authorities for encrypting telephone calls at the classification degree Restricted (in Dutch: Departementaal Vertrouwelijk). NATO also approved SecuVOICE for usage at the degree of Restricted.

Update:
In Nov 2014, the High German authorities GD Protected, a organisation developed yesteryear General Dynamics to secure Samsung Milky Way southward IV in addition to LG Optimus smart phones hence they tin travel used yesteryear high degree authorities officials inwards the United States.

Links in addition to Sources
- BILD.de: Obama wollte alles über Merkel wissen
- Spiegel.de: NSA-Überwachung: Merkels Handy steht seit 2002 auf US-Abhörliste
- T-Online.de: Mit welchem Handy chapeau acquire out Kanzlerin telefoniert?
- Welt.de: Merkels Handy-Nummer inwards Snowdens Dokumenten
- WiWo.de: Sicherheitshandys: Blackberry sticht Telekom aus
- Heise.de: Technische Details zum Merkel-Phone 2.0
- ComputerWoche.de: Das können acquire out neuen „Merkel-Phones“