News: NSW Police encryption broken

[vk6hgr]

IT was a $22 million encrypted radio system meant to keep police business secret from unwanted eavesdroppers.

But hi-tech hackers cracked the system within 12 months, selling off the technology to tow-truck drivers for up to $25,000 a time. In the past weeks police have changed the code after discovering the radios were also in the hands of criminals, particularly bikies.

http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/news/h ... 6119185214

[yorky]

Oops.

Also on a related note, were WA Police using a rolling code of some kind I remember hearing, so should this sort of thing not happen here?

[vk6hgr]

Also on a related note, were WA Police using a rolling code of some kind I remember hearing, so should this sort of thing not happen here?

From what I understood of that document I posted about the Motorola system that WA Police use, the key is static but designed to stay secure even if it is used for years.

[Fitzyyy]

This just goes to show that nothing in our world today is safe and that secure networks of all types are hackable

[doggie015]

Holy smokes... how far will people go to listen to police activities?

I personally think they should just release a receive-only radio to the general public (For a high price and subject to stringent police checks and an agreement that it will not be used for commercial purposes and a GPS tracker and a usage tracker on the unit to detect any possible unauthorized/illegal usage) so that people won't have to go to such extremes. Isn't cracking that encryption an offense in itself anyway?

[Fitzyyy]

Isn't cracking that encryption an offense in itself anyway?

Yeah it is, but Im not sure if theres anyway to find out if someone is eavesdropping on the police comms