MEF, the global trade association for companies wishing to monetize their products & services via mobile quoted Carla Raffinetti of Preiskel & Co in its MEF Minute Africa publication http://mefminute.com/2013/07/26/security-of-sim-cards-under-threat-mobile-industry-reaction/ .
Carla Raffinetti is independently recognised as one of Africa’s leading telecoms lawyers and stated in relation to the topical SIM security concerns issuue:
“Karsten Nohl’s recent findings show that third parties can now obtain the encryption keys of older SIM cards without authorisation. In many countries, it is illegal to hack into communications of any kind (such as traffic data or the contents of phone calls and messages). However, law enforcement agencies can usually obtain access if they are granted permission by the law. Where the information is encrypted, many jurisdictions allow them to compel the disclosure of the key in a limited range of circumstances. Therefore, in those countries where the statutory mechanisms to obtain communications from a mobile phone are already there, Nohl’s findings will probably not have much of an impact on law enforcement. However, customers using legacy SIM cards may increasingly find themselves becoming the target of fraud by criminals. This could be worrying for African consumers who are using mobile money systems and the like.”