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Researchers Find ‘Backdoor’ in Encrypted Police and Military Radios (www.vice.com)

submitted 1 year ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

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[–] [email protected] -1 points 1 year ago (1 children)

We use the same licensed VHF network at work for the last 30 years. Ever since our local cops switched to 'digital', 'encrypted' radio comms, we regularly pick them up on our VHFs across the entire district, regardless of what frequency we are on.

It's like their whole thing is leaking across the bands, which should not be possible given that it's encrypted but here we are. If it were anyone else, we'd be pursuing them for abusing the frequency band that we pay for but it doesn't feel like a battle that we want to start.

[+] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago* (last edited 10 months ago) (1 children)

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[–] [email protected] 0 points 1 year ago (1 children)

We have a similar organisation to the FCC that deals with these matters. I will take this up with our radio specialist first though.

The bit that has me scratching my head is that it is our analogue VHF system that is picking up these communications.

All emergency services are supposed to have moved to digital, encrypted channels and yet I am sitting here listening to the police despatch co-ordinate units to chase an agitated man with a bat as we speak. It's happening daily, especially early in the morning but it just doesn't make any sense to me.

Unless some part of their network is still analogue, we shouldn't be hearing anything.

I do not know enough about the technical side of these technologies to understand this, I just use them regularly.

We have an extensive network of private repeaters set up all over the state on our own land. I just hope it is not us that are somehow causing this problem. We have the requisite licenses for all of our bands and nothing has really changed for us. Trouble only started when they went digital.