Researchers find 'backdoor' in encrypted police and military radios
Researchers find 'backdoor' in encrypted police and military radios
The TETRA standard is used in radios worldwide. Security researchers have found multiple vulnerabilities in the underlying cryptography and its implementation, including issues that allow for the decryption of traffic.
Researchers find 'backdoor' in encrypted police and military radios::The TETRA standard is used in radios worldwide. Security researchers have found multiple vulnerabilities in the underlying cryptography and its implementation, including issues that allow for the decryption of traffic.
Remember, if the "good guys" got a backdoor access, the bad guys can use that backdoor too. In fact, the bad guys will probably use the backdoor much more frequently, which is why attempts to place backdoor on end-to-end encryption by various governments are very dangerous.
A couple of things to keep in mind, some of which are in the article, some aren't:
TETEA is mostly used by first responders. The primary benefit of first responders using encrypted comm is to prevent unauthorized users interfering with real time communication in a crisis.
While the US military uses TETRA in some overseas locations, it is mainly used to coordinate with local emergency services, and has never been viewed as a secure form of communication.
Lastly, not to be too US centric but TETRA is almost never used in America, where Project 25(P25) is mandated for most originations. P25 was developed after 9/11 as a radio interconnect standard for emergency services and first responders that allows radios to communicate regardless of manufacturer.
Good thing P25 is safe.
P25 only uses 56 bit encryption, there are better systems if you want to ensure that only the intended recipient will be able to receive your transmission. P25 is great for when you want to make sure that all your intended recipients can receive and intended senders can send, while minimizing undesired senders being received.
Cool! Now we'll all know, as Russia did all along, what the government is doing - until they patch this.
Unfortunately standards like this don't get patches, they get replaced. The good news is that TETRA, at least from a US standpoint, has never been viewed as secure and isn't used by the military for tactical communication