23 Feb 2015

Alleged mass hack of phone SIMs

9:03 pm on 23 February 2015

Reports that US and British spies have hacked into the world's biggest maker of phone SIM cards may lead to a massive recall of the cards.

Gemalto

Photo: AFP

The alleged hack on Gemalto would allow the spies to potentially monitor the calls, texts and emails of billions of mobile users around the world, investigative news website Intercept reported.

The Franco-Dutch company said it was looking into the claim, which cites documents provided by whistleblower Edward Snowden.

Australia's three major telcos have confirmed to Fairfax Media they each sold SIM cards produced by Gemalto, as well as SIMs manufactured by other companies.

They are waiting on advice from Gemalto.

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