P25T Encryption Issues

[VK7GOP]

Hi All,
Looking for some pointers on what I'm doing wrong - trialling the Unication G3 on a P25 Trunked network and for the life of me cannot get Encrypted TGs to decrypt.

I have manually created and loaded an AES256 key onto the radio using a KVL5000 with the correct CKR id for the TG I am using.
I have used the Unication Encryption Key Utility V1.0.3.2 to create a matching key and loaded it onto the G3 with the same CKR id
Using identical key data on both KVL and EKU - just spamming a single character.

I have imported the EKF file into PPS V0.4.0.41 and assigned the relevant 'Key Alias' to the TG I am using within my P25 Trunking System.

After all that, I'm still getting garbled audio which would indicate an incorrect decryption key.

Any ideas/assistance would be greatly appreciated.

PS. If anyone knows what the 'Key ID' field is used for in the Encryption Utility, I'd be interested to know - have tried matching it to the Key ID shown in the KVL but no luck.

Radio FW V2.03
DBV2.05

 

[rescue161]

I am unfamiliar with the pager software, but are the Key ID, KEK, etc. loaded as decimal or hexadecimal? If you try to use hex when the key is actually Dec, then it will not work.

 

[N4DES]

Did you check the box in the Zone/Channel setting to receive Encrypted Calls?

 

[VK7GOP]

I am unfamiliar with the pager software, but are the Key ID, KEK, etc. loaded as decimal or hexadecimal? If you try to use hex when the key is actually Dec, then it will not work.

CKR ID can only be decimal, Key ID can be either Hex or Dec, tried with both.

Did you check the box in the Zone/Channel setting to receive Encrypted Calls?

Yes - hence the garbled audio, if you don't set it it just doesnt register the call.

 

[cavmedic]

I have not been able to get AES to decode on any of my G-5's. ADP works about 98% of the time, but when using AES, about every 6th syllable decodes. There is a few other threads about this, and it seems as if Unication is silent on the issue.

 

[FishScan]

Motorola or Harris? They have different system settings.

 

[VK7GOP]

Motorola or Harris? They have different system settings.

Motorola

 

[FishScan]

Make sure your KID is set to hex in the settings. Your KID has to correctly match what is being sent from the system.

 

[VK7GOP]

Make sure your KID is set to hex in the settings. Your KID has to correctly match what is being sent from the system.

View attachment 192274

I have tried multiple variations without any luck, including looking up what the Key ID is in the Motorola KMF and putting that in.

 

[nhfdcadet]

Did you enable encryption key programming in the menu of your pager and program it with the keys from the encryption key utility?

 

[VK7GOP]

Fixed with beta FW2.04 provided by Unication

 

[cavmedic]

Any mention when it will be out for the public?

 

[VK7GOP]

Any mention when it will be out for the public?

No timeline was provided sorry - I got it by reaching out to the Technical support page on the Unication website so probably worth doing similar if you have the same issue.
No changelog was provided with the beta firmware so I don't know what else it fixes/changes.

 

[cavmedic]

Yeah, got it through them, a few failures to find out it’s only for pagers manufactured within the past 2 years. So there is that.

 

[2wayfreq]

I use ADP in my G4 right now but about 30% of the time I get garbled decode errors (Quite Annoying). I hope there will be a future fix. Eventually, I think some of the agencies I listen to will ditch ARC4/ADP and go AES-256. I need a refresher on how to export and save the KVL5000 EKF Key File and transfer it to the utility.

 

[cavmedic]

The file mentioned above is only for version B pagers.

They did send me a file for the older pagers, but it didn’t make a difference.

 

[Gadgetmann]

I have ADP encryption working at least 98% of the time and interested in AES 256. So I am at FW2.02 and will have to go to FW2.04? Also, my pager is a few years old, how do I check if it is version B?

 

[hey]

I have noticed that Unication Encryption Key Utility does not support ARC4/ADP/DES on a P25 phase 2 system specially, DES – XL

 

[Gadgetmann]

So that would also include AES 256 on a P25 phase 2 system?

 

[VK7GOP]

I have ADP encryption working at least 98% of the time and interested in AES 256. So I am at FW2.02 and will have to go to FW2.04? Also, my pager is a few years old, how do I check if it is version B?

In the Unication Programming software 'Create New Profile' page it tells you what Hardware your device uses - Version B is 'G5N'
As above V2.04 is only compatible with Version B at present

So that would also include AES 256 on a P25 phase 2 system?

AES 256 did work with FW V2.04 on Version B Hardware