[Scan-DC] references to "Often Encrypted"

[Joseph M. Durnal]

Example

408.20000
RM
201 NAC
FPS 408.2
Federal Protective Service (often encrypted)
P25E
Federal

This is encrypted most of the time, the only thing I've heard that isn't is
sort of a roll call / radio check.  Maybe there is more, but, sine it is
encrypted so often, its often skipped in my scan.

I doubt anyone is cracking p25 AES in real time, and the value of the
encryption is to protect the real time information, if it is recorded and
decrypted later, which would still require government level resources to
do, not much is really lost.

The real vulnerability to p25 AES is that someone gets ahold of the key,
they can decrypt in real time.  This would go for spread spectrum or
frequency hopping too, if someone obtained the key that governs the
protocol, they could easily follow and decrypt it in real time.

The feds are pretty good at protecting those keys though, with their radio
technicians following good IT security practices.

J

On Sat, Dec 1, 2018 at 3:32 AM Greg Danes <danesgswolf at gmail.com> wrote:

> Browsing the RR database today under Washington-Baltimore Metro, I see a
> lot of federal listings as P25E for encrypted but they are listed as "often
> encrypted". Does that mean they are sometimes clear but digital? Just
> wondering when and why they would be. Going a bit further, if the federal
> agencies wanted really secure comms they could use Spread Spectrum or
> frequency hopping and encryption although that might be overkill.
>
> KJ4DGE
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