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Feds' Radios Have Significant Security Flaws
OverTheGeicoE writes "The Wall Street Journal has a story describing how the portable radios used by many federal law enforcement agents have major security flaws that allow for easy eavesdropping and jamming. Details are in a new study being released today (PDF). The authors of the study were able to intercept hundreds of hours of sensitive traffic inadvertently sent without encryption over the past two years. They also describe how a texting toy targeted at teenage girls can be modified to jam transmissions from the affected radios, either encrypted or not."
You notice that pretty much everything sold to the federal government is fraudulent? There is an entire industry devoted to ripping them off. Why isn't there a mechanism in place to punish these folks?
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It's a small world and it smells funny; I'd buy another if it wasn't for the money; Take back what I paid (SoM)
or supposed to be. I couldn't find where they where using an encrypted channels.
And it's radio, so NEWSFLASH: It can be jammed.
Ob. link:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FcArnepkhv0
The Kruger Dunning explains most post on
Uh. Yeah. I think FCC rules prohibit encryption. And we are talking about radio, not wired communications.
You want privacy? Use a phone. Unless you're at a DEFCON gathering.
The front page of the 'texting toy' website begins with 'It sounds 2good2btru - but it's 4real!' and ends with my stomach contents, evacuated onto the floor. Shame on TheGeicoE for subjecting us to that.
Hey mate, spare a sig?
"the more they over-think the plumbing, the easier it is to stop up the drain." (Star Trek III: The Search for Spock)
Karma: Excellent. 15 moderator points expire sometime.
And it is legal to listen in on them. Google for "police scanner".
Now I could see reasons why the FBI might have encrypted radios, but then again they also might decide such a thing isn't necessary, or that they should be selectable.
Either way, the idea of unencrypted police radio isn't surprising, it is the norm. That may change, but for now in most places a cheap scanner is all you need to listen to police radio, if you wish to do so.
try frequency hopping, or spread spectrum technology, no analog or digital scanner can receive them...
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Back in the day, you could tune into the police on an ordinary FM radio (in the UK). They used the frequencies from 100 to 108 MHz before they got moved.
Is their some reason the feds are not using the same radios the military uses? I'm sure the DOD has some experience in secure portable communications.
Traditionally, all police radio communications were unencrypted and anybody could buy a scanner from RadioShack to listen in. My understanding is that the press commonly used them and would publish what they learnt from it. And that was a good thing, because it forced the police to be a little more accountable.
You can't do encryption over HAM waves because it is supposed to be free and open to all that qualify, not a place for exclusivity. Also they want to be able to monitor to make sure people aren't using it for commercial purposes.
However on other bands, encryption is just fine. You really think the military uses unencrypted radio for all their communications?
For that matter, your cell phone is encrypted. Grated it isn't very good encryption, but it is encrypted. All digital cell phones are.
The changeover started pre 9/11, but the influx of Federal funds after that really kicked it into high gear. All or nearly all major metro areas now use digital, encryptable radio systems and they're spreading to smaller and smaller counties and cities. And thanks to the Publc Safety push they're using the P25 standard for interoperability.
It has made it much harder for journalists to learn about news-worthy incidents.
Anybody else see the irony of the Wall Street Journal reporting on how wireless devices can be intercepted?
They also describe how a texting toy targeted at teenage girls can be modified to jam transmissions from the affected radios, either encrypted or not."
A texting toy targeted at teenage twats 'twas transformed to twist transmissions 'tween totalitarian terrorist-tackling tards.
"transmitting a 100ms pulse"
You want to try that again?
The story is misleading in that it leads the non communications savvy reader to think that P25 itself is supposed to be inherently unmonitorable, which is not true. The biggest concern in this article would be the ability for P25 signals to be jammed (anyone’s not just Motorola’s). No matter who makes the radio, operator error is a fact of life. I work with people who can’t figure out how to switch zones on their radios after having had them for five years. That’s mainly because they don’t care, not because it’s particularly difficult.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Terrestrial_Trunked_Radio - Encrypted and allows direct and infrastructure communication.
....the number one reason will be A DumbAss on a Backhoe.
Let's see, the main vulnerabilities appear to be jamming (which all radios except frequency hopping spread spectrum radios are susceptible to), and traffic analysis made possible by unique ids for each radio (something radios have had for decades). Yawn. Someone trying to make a name for themselves by making the digital threat sound more serious than the threats that have always existed.
Software or hardware to filter the signal from the noise can help in a jamming environment but it's not a cure-all.
Unless you can stop the jammer from transmitting, stop your receiver from picking up the jamming signal, or you can simply overpower him, it's hard to stop a jammer.
For typical hand-held and automobile radios there isn't a good solution.
The most effective way to stop a jammer usually involves either finding and arresting the person responsible or destroying the transmitter. Sometimes a credible threat to do either will work as well.
Knowledge is how to play a game, intelligence is how to win, wisdom is knowing what game to play.
I've always wondered about wholly passive methods for police activity monitoring. For example, how difficult would it be to combine a GPS position fix and a DF setup to track nearby police cars or foot patrols? That's assuming law enforcement and emergency services use dedicated radio bands for communication. I guess eavesdropping would provide further information, but even just a position fix could be useful in the commission of a crime.
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Why do they use $1000 radios and not cheap, safe, cell phones ? Our tax dollars at work