Security Part Deux
Hi everyone and welcome back to my next installment of a strange IT guy in a strange land. Wait, or is that a newb traversing the oft confusing landscape that is LMR (Land Mobile Radio)? Naw not a newb anymore, more like a level 1 helpdesk tech who is simply happy to find a job before the older more experienced techs get their meat hooks into them and turn them into the curmudgeon tech that people are used to. Man, that was too deep. Yeah, I am going to have to unpack that at my next therapy session.
Anyway, so this happened recently. Please take a moment to open a new tab, read it then come back here. I will wait (Jeopardy Tune Playing in my head right now). It really gives pause for concern when it comes to securing our LMR systems doesn’t it? I mean this article has technical details, drama, even references to Snowden and the NSA! Wait, is this Netflix or a security article? Fortunately, (?) this article pushed me down the road of LMR encryption. I have to say, being a security minded IT guy, I found it, dare I say, fascinating?
Now I am not going to go into the technical details of the TETRA, P25 & DMR digital standards and the encryption algorithms associated with them (smarter people than me have done this already), but what I can do is point you to some authors and companies who have done this for us. This little article from BelFone defines each of these standards. I also suggest you check out this article from our friends at CISA (Cybersecurity & Infrastructure Security Agency). It goes into detail about the different encryption standards and recommendations for emergency services.
In summary, just like our companies Wi-Fi and physical networks we must protect the LMR systems we have been assigned. The most effective way to protect these systems is to use encryption standards that are baked into the devices our companies have purchased. I also suggest that if you have concerns and not sure where to begin with this, TX RX Systems does offer consulting services for this and other parts of your LMR infrastructure (shameless plug). If you don’t want to talk to our sales team (Though I am not sure why you wouldn’t, they are cool people and know their stuff!) then please, drop me a line at rmoore@txrx.com or message me on LinkedIn.