http://www.philly.com/philly/health_and_science/130094458.html By Tom Avril Inquirer Staff Writer Sept. 19, 2011 When a team of University of Pennsylvania computer scientists set out to test the security of the encrypted two-way radios widely used by federal agents, they were in for an unnerving surprise: For a small but significant part of the time, the radio traffic was not even encrypted. All they had to do was turn on a store-bought receiver and they could hear agents discussing the identities of undercover agents and informants, locations of surveillance targets, and other sensitive details, the researchers reported in a study last month. In one three-month period, the team said it picked up this kind of traffic for 23 minutes a day, on average, in several unidentified cities where listening posts were set up. The researchers, who won an award for their paper at a national conference, are working with law enforcement agencies to alleviate problems through software tweaks and training. But they said they also identified other security flaws with the radios that may be harder to fix. With a bit of technical know-how, they were able to jam radio transmissions using a modified toy - an instant-messaging device designed for preteens. In addition, by using a radio to send out unobtrusive "pings," they were able to track the location of all radios tuned to a given frequency, as well as the federal agency the users worked for. "It's like Harry Potter's Marauder's Map," said lead author Sandy Clark, referring to the magical parchment that reveals the location of anyone at Hogwarts School. [...] _____________________________________________________________ Register now for the #HITB2011KUL - Asia's premier deep-knowledge network security event now in it's 9th year! http://conference.hitb.org/hitbsecconf2011kul/Received on Mon Sep 19 2011 - 22:25:02 PDT
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