[perlgeek]

It lasted 30 years in the sense it hasn't been publicly broken before.

We don't know how many intelligence agencies have found some of these and are happily listening in on "secure" communication, concealing that fact successfully.

[nicce]

This argument holds for any non-disclosed vulnerabilities, however.

[michaelt]

Aren't these encrypted radios mostly for cops?

I mean, this is embarrassing - but who cares if the secret police are spying on the regular police?

[creer]

Seems this was a general export item resulting from the 1990's crypto restrictions. The article mentions 100 countries using them. That would be agencies for whom it didn't matter, yes, (ambulance, corp security, etc) - but also everyone else who could not afford anything better but for whom security actually mattered. Not every country can afford to roll their own for this kind of stuff.

[perlgeek]

Does the FBI use these? The FBI is tasked with counter intelligence, and for a spy it could be highly relevant to learn if they are being targeted.

[chislobog]

Federal stuff is going to be p25 phase 2, usually AES encrypted. Harris or Motorola, and at one point Thales (previously Racal.)

Some other brands end up being used like cobham or bendix but those are usually for aviation.

Tetra isn’t used by us LE. There are military encryption schemes, some of which are classified or controlled occasionally used by feds. Mostly tho you're looking at encrypted voice over data using mobile phones tho. Cellcrypt Inc, for example. Not many investigators lug around a radio to call agents in the field unless they need interoperability with other agencies or tactical communications using local infrastructure.

During the Obama inauguration the Thales liberty triband was used with AES. I think most agencies dumped the Thales Libntry for Harris tri band radios or Motorola now, which is sad because as a result the liberty is basically a dead end platform

[dghlsakjg]

Whose secret police are spying on the civilian police.

Is it more concerning if it’s the Russian secret police spying on the Kyiv police?