[Scan-DC] People with "above-average intelligence" can clone a radio!

[Alan Henney]

Associated Press State & Local

October 24, 2018 Wednesday 5:05 PM GMT

Officials seize 'cloned' emergency responder radios

BYLINE: By MARK GILLISPIE, Associated Press

SECTION: STATE AND REGIONAL

LENGTH: 397 words

DATELINE: CLEVELAND

CLEVELAND (AP) - Officials have seized radios cloned from a stolen police
radio that could have disrupted emergency communications and endangered
lives, a sheriff said Wednesday.

The Stark County Sheriff's Office and Canton police are investigating eight
to 10 people involved in the sale of the radios after seven searches
carried out Monday in the Canton area, Sheriff George Maier said. The
cloned radios are no longer operable, he said.

No one was arrested during the searches, which also uncovered potential
weapons violations being investigated by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco,
Firearms and Explosives.

Maier compared the cloning of the radio, which appears to have been stolen
from Canton police, with a computer crime. Someone with "above-average
intelligence" downloaded the stolen radio's software to a computer and then
uploaded it to commercially available radios, allowing users to monitor the
communications of the sheriff's office and police and fire departments that
are part of a countywide system, Maier said.

The cloned radios could fetch $300 to $400 on the black market, he said.
It's unclear how many were sold. Some of the radios seized Monday hadn't
yet been programmed, Maier said.

"That part is a little scary," Maier said. "We don't know who they've sold
them to."

Unlike police scanners, which can pick up some communications from first
responders, the cloned radios provided access to all of the "talk groups"
on the Stark County system, including those used in sensitive matters such
as undercover operations. It's too early in the investigation to know how
safety forces were affected by the theft, Maier said.

"It's the back channels that gave us concern," Maier said. "That could put
officers in harm's way."

Police radios, like cellphones, have individual signatures. The clones
carried the same signature from the stolen radio, Maier said. Monday's raid
allowed officials to isolate the stolen radio's signature and shut off the
clones' access to the county communications system.

The scheme was discovered by officials from the statewide Multi-Agency
Radio Communications System.

Stark County police and fire departments along with the sheriff's office
are in the process of switching over to a digital simulcast system that
will allow first responders to more easily communicate with each other.

Canton is roughly 60 miles (100 kilometers) south of Cleveland.