[Elecraft] K4 and Linux Infrastructure

[Rick WA6NHC]

Much of that protection can be implemented at the router level (>90% of 
all sites) and the internal linux (fairly bullet proof) will deal with 
the radio talking to the world.

It shouldn't be too difficult for Elecraft to refine security to the 
radio, you'd only need a few ports of network access, which if required, 
could be coded to set values (MAC address) up to the menu level...  or 
limited access into the linux side of the radio.

I'm confident it has been considered and managed with the usual Elecraft 
elegance.

Rick NHC


On 6/3/2019 11:50 AM, Dave New, N8SBE wrote:
> So, let's let the elephant in the room bellow a bit.
>
> Ahem, CYBER SECURITY.
>
> Now that you've put a popular, modern OS in the K4, and hooked it up to
> Ethernet (and therefore the Internet), you've just opened a stinking
> pile of attack vectors.
>
> And please don't think that no one will bother figuring out how to 'own'
> such a powerful connected processor.  If you spend anytime reading up on
> things like Distributed Denial of Service (DDOS) attacks, you will find
> that things like webcams and routers (which typically don't even have a
> 32-bit OS in them) have been marshaled to unleash frightening
> multi-gigabit attacks on various targets.
>
> Or, try the newest craze, dropping Bitcoin or other digital currency
> mining engines on unsuspecting machines, taking them over hog mode, and
> pegging the CPU at 100%, using your electric bill for their gain.
>
> Or, maybe the K4 will be the first ham radio to suffer from a
> ransom-ware attack, where the poor ham is asked to ante up some ransom
> (in bitcoin usually, to make it hard to track) to get control of his
> radio back.
>
> True, at least one or more other companies have already stepped out
> ahead, by putting Windows 10 in their radio.
>
> I'm just wondering if anyone at Elecraft has been tasked with dealing
> with the cyber security aspects of this new toy, and what plans you may
> have for outside pen testing, etc. have been made.
>
> At the very least, you should be using authenticated boot and
> authenticated flash, protected by a root certificate in an internal
> hardware trust anchor.
>
> 73,
>
> -- Dave, N8SBE
>
> -------- Original Message --------
> Subject: Re: [Elecraft] K4 and Linux Infrastructure
> From: Wayne Burdick <n6kr at elecraft.com>
> Date: Sun, June 02, 2019 11:52 am
> To: Leroy Buller <lee.buller at gmail.com>
> Cc: Elecraft Reflector <elecraft at mailman.qth.net>, Lee Buller
> <lgbuller at k0wa.com>
>
> x86, not PI (ARM). It's the controller for internal/external displays
> and streaming I/O, runs the server for remote clients, and serves as the
> present/future app engine.
>
> Additional details pending.
>
> 73,
> Wayne
> N6KR
>
>
>
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