[TheList] NZ Police Network may not be that secure...

Sun Aug 14 15:44:09 AEST 2011

The issue is not that the encryption is broken or there is a way to listen
in, its that the network is vulnerable to denial of service attacks with
very low cost equipment and detecting an attack is difficult.

Looks like they cant fix it without deviating from the P25 standard. This
new attack method corrupts data to make decoding impossible and can also be
targeted, so attackers could jam just encrypted traffic (and not touch data
"in the clear"), a particular radio or the whole network. Also an attacker
could force radios to transmit data,
potentially identifying covert activities.

Another interesting point made in the research report is that the
implementation of the encryption is possibly flawed due to the nature of
two-way radio communications.

On Sun, Aug 14, 2011 at 2:17 PM, Neill Ellis <tgsnoopy at gmail.com> wrote:

> LOL...
>
> I understand the encryption system in this article is the same as the much
> touted NZ Police system.
>
> <http://news.cnet.com/8301-**31921_3-20090434-281/security-**
> flaw-found-in-feds-digital-**radios/<http://news.cnet.com/8301-31921_3-20090434-281/security-flaw-found-in-feds-digital-radios/>
> >
>
> Fortunately it is all software upgradable... It will no doubt be upgraded
> to make it secure again.
>
> Neill.
>
>
> On 3/08/2011 7:08 p.m., Steve Austin wrote:
>
>> I forgot to state that this is happening in Christchurch........Other
>> areas not affected....Yet......But tests are happening.
>> The biggest drawback from P25 is the hungry for power
>> repeaters.....Constant 5 amp draw. Not good for remote sites.
>>
>> On Wed, Aug 3, 2011 at 7:01 PM, Steve Austin <nzscanners at gmail.com<mailto:
>> nzscanners at gmail.com>> wrote:
>>
>>    Maybe some here do not understand P25 and the systems involved.
>>    Ambulance are sharing the Police network in a testing
>>    phase.......They are on a node of the P25 system.....No problem
>>    plenty of space...
>>    Its also easier to put a ready to go radio onto the p25
>>    system...Its just unfortunate that the test radios happen to be
>>    AES/DES 256bit encrypted radios.
>>
>>
>>    Steve
>>
>>
>>    On Wed, Aug 3, 2011 at 6:48 PM, Oliver <nzoliver at hotmail.com
>>    <mailto:nzoliver at hotmail.com>> wrote:
>>
>>        Hi,
>>
>>        They ARE trialling P25 encrypted. I know this for a fact. You
>>        can hear some of the ambos on analogue as not all of them have
>>        the new radios. The amount of ambo traffic on the analogue is
>>        way down if you have been a long time listener.........
>>
>>
>>
>>        ------------------------------**--------------------
>>        From: "Neill Ellis" <tgsnoopy at gmail.com
>>        <mailto:tgsnoopy at gmail.com>>
>>        Sent: Wednesday, August 03, 2011 12:17 PM
>>        To: "Grant Carroll" <grant.carroll at xtra.co.nz
>>        <mailto:grant.carroll at xtra.co.**nz <grant.carroll at xtra.co.nz>>>; <
>> thelist at radiowiki.org.nz
>>        <mailto:thelist at radiowiki.org.**nz <thelist at radiowiki.org.nz>>>
>>        Subject: Re: [TheList] Christchurch Ambulance now digital
>>
>>
>>            Hi Grunter,
>>
>>            I think you might be on to something. I'm pretty sure the
>>            media would have let us know if Ambo's were trialling or
>>            had gone secure digital.
>>
>>            Regards,
>>
>>            Neill.
>>
>>
>>            On 3/08/2011 11:50 a.m., Grant Carroll wrote:
>>
>>                Hello,
>>                I am still listening to ambos on the same frequencies
>>                in the ESB band they have been on for ages. This is on
>>                an analogue scanner and my digital scanner with no
>>                "P25" coming up to suggest the transmissions are
>>                digital and obviously if I can hear them on an
>>                analogue scanner they aren't. Am I missing something
>>                here? Are they being simulcast on analogue and new
>>                digital frequencies for now or is their going digital
>>                just a vicious rumour?
>>                Cheers guys.
>>                Grunter1.
>>
>>
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