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AFAIK LTE/3G security is way better, but as you say it's possible to intercept calls in other ways, either by tapping lines or by doing MITM.

It would be interesting to know if LTE, being packed based, is is susceptible to attacks such as there: http://boingboing.net/2008/06/19/listen-in-on-encrypt.html

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I don't think MITM is possible with LTE. My understanding is that it requires mutual authentication between the handset and tower/network. My guess is that 3G (UMTS and CDMA2000) is the same because they both use the 3GPP Authentication and Key Agreement (AKA) protocol.

But yes, the access provider can still tap the line.

Well it's not as crap as the original GSM, but it wasn't designed in the open (so may be backdoored) and the progression of attacks at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/KASUMI#Cryptanalysis doesn't really inspire confidence.

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