Gemalto Confident Its SIM Products Are Secure Following Infiltration By NSA And GCHQ

As we reported on late last week, the world's largest SIM card maker was broken into digitally as part of a joint operation between the United States' NSA and United Kingdom's GCHQ. The attack, which began back in 2010, gave these agencies unparalleled access to the global smartphone network, ultimately enabling them to decrypt and record phone data of virtually anyone they wanted.

As a result of the news, Gemalto's stock took a 7.5% hit on Friday, something I considered to be unfortunate given it seemed very likely that any company could have suffered the same attack. If the world's biggest intelligence agencies want in, they'll unfortunately be quite successful.

Nonetheless, Gemalto's outlook for the future is good. In its latest press release, the company says that after initial investigations, its products are deemed secure, and as such, it doesn't expect a financial impact.

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 a significant financial prejudice.

Gemalto will be communicating the results of its investigations up to this point on Wednesday via a press conference in Paris. Afterwards, it'll provide full details through its media page.

Ultimately, Gemalto's role or blame in this attack is so minor, that it should almost not even be looked at. Instead, it's the NSA and GCHQ we should be worried about: the agencies that think nothing about breaking into a global company just to further its agenda. And what will happen to them? Perhaps nothing, but as this is yet another thing to toss onto the post-Snowden antitrust pile, both agencies should soon regret getting caught.