Duff, I don't think police dispatch radio is what the original article was talking about with regard to encryption. It seemed to be about tactical radios used by the FBI, etc.
If the rekeying protocol is performed over the air, how does rekeying help in your corrupt cop/gang leader scenario? Wouldn't the gang leader's radio get the new keys along with all the other radios?
If the rekeying protocol is performed over the air, how does rekeying help in your corrupt cop/gang leader scenario? It doesn't.
Wouldn't the gang leader's radio get the new keys along with all the other radios? Yes.
I can't see how rekeying over the air is in anyway a good idea. It doesn't seem to stop any attacks but leads to failure modes. From my understanding, the new keys are transmitted over the air using existing keys. Thus, if your radio is off when the over the air rekeying happens, you don't get the new keys and thus can't talk to anyone in encrypted mode. This causes the fall back to clear mode and thus sensitive information possibly leaking out.
The article doesn't say that rekeying occurs over the air. It could very well be the case that police departments are rekeying their radios at the end of every shift, when, for all practical purposes, they'd be as safe rekeying once a week.
I agree. I don't know who this guy is, but if the superior holier-than-thou attitude that drips through that blog post is any indication, I'm surprised that anyone would ever ask him to speak. At least not twice.
