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| Crypto bombshell |
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| Bud:
--- Quote from: edy on February 13, 2020, 12:22:00 pm ---I was about to ask (and it may have been answersed in the preceding post) that if algorithms are known, what stops someone from programming a higher-bit version of a known encryption algorithm --- End quote --- It impacts performance and may have other issues such as compatibility with other users and applications. |
| ebastler:
--- Quote from: edy on February 13, 2020, 02:04:57 pm ---I "discovered" spy transmissions of data and numbers over the shortwaves from Cuba and other countries. I am puzzled to understand why they broadcast this stuff over the public airwaves... in plain radio (not SSB) and regularly on a schedule and on frequencies that are known for that matter... so that anyone can hear it. --- End quote --- I thought that the whole point is that this is indeed "broadcasting" of information to agents in the field. Anyone (well, any agent) is supposed to be able to hear it, without the need for any specialized equipment -- which they might not have, or which might compromise their mission if it were discovered. |
| jake111:
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| Bud:
--- Quote from: edy on February 13, 2020, 02:04:57 pm ---I "discovered" spy transmissions of data and numbers over the shortwaves from Cuba and other countries. I am puzzled to understand why they broadcast this stuff over the public airwaves... in plain radio (not SSB) and regularly on a schedule and on frequencies that are known for that matter... so that anyone can hear it. --- End quote --- Edy too many spy movies from 50's, you should cut on watching them man ;) This sort of telemetry exists for decades, i trust the systems and people transmitting it are not hiding in the bushes with their vacuum tube transmitters and telescopic antennas. As to why it is still done in an archaic way, well, ask the big banks for instance why some are still using the software developed back in 60's. |
| borjam:
--- Quote from: edy on February 13, 2020, 02:04:57 pm ---It was remarkable listening to this stuff... something I thought wouldn't be done anymore with the advent of the internet and satellite. Anyone with a $20 shortwave radio can hear the number codes and data transmission and decode it on their computer into a file of garbled data. What to do with the resultant file is another issue altogether, but certainly the USA has the means to decrypt all this stuff. Or maybe not? --- End quote --- They don't have the means to decrypt that unless the system is really sloppy or maybe they captured an operative. --- Quote ---I am puzzled to understand why they broadcast this stuff over the public airwaves... in plain radio (not SSB) and regularly on a schedule and on frequencies that are known for that matter... so that anyone can hear it. I guess it's because they know the numbers and data can easily be intercepted even on the internet, and so there is no secret to hiding the transmission itself. --- End quote --- The reason is simple. A professional communications receiver can be a real liability in many countries. An ordinary cheap radio is not. If the message is well protected making the encrypted text public is really harmless. And periodic, scheduled transmissions make the system actually more secure. I am sure they send a standard length "lorem ipsum" when there's nothing to communicate at all. That way an eavesdropper has no way to correlate transmissions to certain events (or lack of them). One of the things the British did in WWII was called, if I remember well, "gardening". If they wanted the German Navy to send an encrypted message with known text (message format an content was strictly standardized) they for example dropped mines on a port, so the Germans would send an "ACHTUNG MINES DETECTED AT HAMBURG PORT" or whatever. |
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