Encryption
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Highpockets
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robbinsj2
Member
If they're law enforcement agencies that you're monitoring then it's a matter of when, not if. Prepare yourself for the eventuality, which may be some time off yet but is coming.
(My personal opinion is there will still be plenty to scan so I'll be disappointed but not too frustrated. I've spent the last week having fun trying to sort out some Provoice users on the Middlesex County EDACS via traffic patterns, rare analog transmissions, patches, etc.)
Jim
(My personal opinion is there will still be plenty to scan so I'll be disappointed but not too frustrated. I've spent the last week having fun trying to sort out some Provoice users on the Middlesex County EDACS via traffic patterns, rare analog transmissions, patches, etc.)
Jim
twhitson
Member
I personally would be surprised if most public safety communications aren't encrypted within a decade or 15 years. The rescue/EMS folks are screaming HIPPA (federal privacy policy) and say it's really not private if a dispatcher sends a unit to an address for a certain condition code. Police of course don't want their physical locations known, or dispatched alarms where the public (criminals) can hear.
twhitson
Member
Let me further say that if it becomes the norm, SOMEONE will figure out how to decode it eventually. I remember when trunking first came out and if you were old school (one agency, one frequency) enthusiast like myself it was really frustrating having to listen to buses and local goverment chatter just to occasionally hear the "good" stuff; not to mention whenever they changed control frequencies so you'd have to constantly lock and unlock channels to avoid the digital mess. No matter what type encryption used, the 2 or 3 big players in public safety communications will probably only have 2 or 3 major standards/algorithms and it will probably only be secure for awhile
RadioDaze
Member
But not legally. Meaning you won't be able to buy anything on the open market, and it will be unlawful to possess anything. There are laws in place that make it a crime to crack an encrypted transmission. Encrypted signals are intended to remain private, whereas trunked signals and digital signals were intended simply as improvements to communications, not attempts to prevent outsiders from listening. There was no law preventing scanning technology from catching up.
There are a number of threads on this site that discuss the chances of anyone being able to reliably crack encryption. The consensus seem s to be "slim" to "none".
All that being said, I lost my local law enforcement to encryption almost 10 years ago. Took a break from scanning until about 3 years ago.
robbinsj2
Member
How to decrypt is in the open standard, so there's nothing really to figure out. It's just a matter of trying out the huge number (more than trillions, right?) of different possible encryption codes, so have at it! Sure, computing power will eventually advance to the point that a brute force / trial & error solution to current schemes is feasible for average hobbyists, but the users will be several generations past this encryption scheme by then.
DJ88
Member
I monitor Monmouth & Ocean Counties and several PDs in Ocean and 2 in Monmouth are totally encrypted. However, Monmouth has an inter op channel, the County Hot Line, which is tied into all PDs in the county along with county dispatch. If something happens (bank robbery, shooting, hit and run, etc) and the cops are looking for a suspect, the mesasge is broadcast on the Hot line. Ocean County also has a similar channel (UHF 1 Interop) which serves the same purpose. SPEN 1 is also used for this, and in most cases, in conjunction with the inter op channels. I may not be able to listen to everything that happens in these towns that encrypt, but if something like I mentioned above does, I'm informed via these inter op channels. So, to an extent, it's a way around the encryption.
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I don't think that it will be as fast as everyone thinks.
As for the poor guy who is upset about buying a $600 dollar scanner, hang in there bud. Don't let all the doom and gloom get to you.
As for the poor guy who is upset about buying a $600 dollar scanner, hang in there bud. Don't let all the doom and gloom get to you.
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