Russian Military using Motorola Digital👀

[KE5ZBG]

Also reports of DMR flowing over Iridium satellites, unsure from what user.

Apologies for the late reply, Russia's Meridian satellites would be a better fit here. (The uplink coincides with the repeater portion of the 70 cm in some parts of the world, and coincidentally they pick up amateur DMR traffic at times.)

 

[ElroyJetson]

Motorola is an international company with customers literally worldwide. They'll sell to anybody unless they're formally under economic sanctions that prohibit selling of that product category to a specific nation.

It's be far more surprising if Russians did NOT have some Motorola equipment.

 

[kk6rq]

Might also be a 2-knob APX4000 (or other market equiv.)

 

[prcguy]

Apologies for the late reply, Russia's Meridian satellites would be a better fit here. (The uplink coincides with the repeater portion of the 70 cm in some parts of the world, and coincidentally they pick up amateur DMR traffic at times.)

They would not be accessing those satellites with a rubber duckie antenna and I don’t see any external antennas.

 

[scfd4]

APX900 maybe also

 

[Bowlieweekender]

Many videos of Russian soldiers using MotoTrbo. The quick and easy way to ID is by the talk permit tone. I’ve heard both encrypted and clear talk permit tones being used.

Depending on which level of encryption they are using - simple - advanced might make breaking their “encryption” pretty easy. In general they aren’t using repeaters but only simplex.

Their latest and greatest military radio is the Azart - made in China. Don’t be fooled though, the Azart is a pretty respectable radio in its own right. Covers low band, VHF high, and UHF with the ability to pass data and perhaps even photos. They just don’t have them to issue in mass. I’d like to get my hands on one just to have a super fly all band portable. Perhaps after the war they will start appearing on the market.

This is all correct. Ukraine uses a lot of MotoTRBO simplex and through repeaters all with AES. The AZART is super capable AM/FM/WFM/TETRA/Encryption/FastFrequencyHopping, but the company and military contracts were mired with corruption and the 99% Taiwanese sourced components are very hard to procure because of biting sanctions. So they are becoming rarer in the battlefield. Ukraine probably has captured 20% of the deployed Ukrainian AZARTS. Russia is currently heavily DMR, they started with Motorola and Hytera mostly simplex though the radio's are expensive and no radioman in the field any longer believes that AES-256 is actually secure so an alternative solution was sought. Russian armor is often equipped with well known Chinese sourced DMR mobiles that would be very familiar to any radio amateur. They are just introducing the plastic KOMBAT radio using 100% Chinese components. More akin to a Baofeng than an Azart they are programmable with an Android phone (very smart move) using a little dongle and support both AES-256 and the newly minted WAES-512 encryption. The KOMBAT case design bears a striking resemblance to the Motorola XPR 7550.

 

[kayn1n32008]

Maybe a MTP series Tetra radio?

Almost zero chance they are using tetra.

Based on video clips I've seen out of this conflict, it's DMR with encryption employed

 

[Firebuff66]

the newly minted WAES-512 encryption.

I thought it was AES++ at 1024

 

[gtaman]

They are using DP4801s with AES. I got a few of them with active keys.

 

[Bowlieweekender]

I thought it was AES++ at 1024

Nope, MAES-512. see attached

 

[N4DES]

Nope, MAES-512. see attached

Which is the "light version" of AES according to the IEEE and they don't classify it as having a 512 bit key size.

MAES is a lightweight version of the Advanced Encryption Standard (AES) that is designed to be used in resource-constrained environments such as the Internet of Things (IoT) devices. The algorithm is optimized for energy consumption and moderate security.

While AES is a symmetric block cipher used to encrypt sensitive data, it is considered to be one of the most secure encryption algorithms available today. The key sizes for AES are 128, 192, or 256 bits, and the block size is 128 bits. AES has been adopted by the U.S. government and is a security standard for users and applications that need easy-to-use encryption.

MAES, on the other hand, uses a new 1-dimensional Substitution Box that is proposed by formulating a novel equation for constructing a square matrix in affine transformation phase of MAES. The efficiency rate of MAES is around 18.35% in terms of packet transmission, which indicates that MAES consumes less energy than AES and is applicable for Resource Constraint Environments. However, MAES is not as secure as AES and is not recommended for use in applications that require high levels of security.

MAES: Modified advanced encryption standard for resource constraint environments

Internet of things (IoT), internetworking of smart devices, embedded with sensors, software, electronics and network connectivity that enables to communicate with each other to exchange and collect data through an uncertain wireless medium. Recently IoT devices are dominating the world by...

ieeexplore.ieee.org

 

[Bowlieweekender]

Russia probably doesn't care what the IEEE classifies it as. Because AES-256 has been compromised on the battlefield, this Modified version probably adds a homegrown spin to further thwart efforts to decode it using existing tools available to government agencies. There's a competition in Russia right now offering many Rubles to the first person who breaks it and demonstrates the methodology.

And I quote:
Modified AES 512

THE COMPETITION CONTINUES!!

WE INCREASE REMUNERATION

1,000,000 rubles

Any person or team that can break the encryption algorithm
Modified AEC 512 bit

 

[MississippiPI]

I can't tell what it is but I do know Homeland Security utilizes APX 8000

Be safe

 

[ElroyJetson]

If AES-256 has been compromised I sure want to read some documentation on that.

It's a devilishly tough trick to create an encryption standard that has two keys, one being variable, and the other being a secret pre-determined back door. Especially when the entire standard's algorithm is totally in the public domain.

Frankly I'm quite skeptical that it has been compromised. More likely someone's key got compromised due to his own slackadaisical handling of the keying materials. Probably wrote his key on a business card which a Ukrainian hooker found when she stole his wallet after an evening's romp.

 

[DeoVindice]

If AES-256 has been compromised I sure want to read some documentation on that.

It's a devilishly tough trick to create an encryption standard that has two keys, one being variable, and the other being a secret pre-determined back door. Especially when the entire standard's algorithm is totally in the public domain.

Frankly I'm quite skeptical that it has been compromised. More likely someone's key got compromised due to his own slackadaisical handling of the keying materials. Probably wrote his key on a business card which a Ukrainian hooker found when she stole his wallet after an evening's romp.

That, keys extracted from captured radios (no FIPS-certified hardware encryption!) or some kind of TRBO-specific exploitation. I'm aware of some Chinese DMR radios having initialization vector vulnerabilities in their AES-256 implementation.

 

[ElroyJetson]

As a matter of fact, a patient man with good soldering skills can transport the EEPROM in certain Harris[M-A-Com] radios from one to another and in doing so, transfer all the encryption keys along with it, if infinite key retention is enabled. (P7100) I've done it. Couldn't read it out, but I could transport the key intact.

 

[kayn1n32008]

...More likely someone's key got compromised due to his own slackadaisical handling of the keying materials.

This is the correct answer. I doubt the algorithm has been defeated.

 

[Bowlieweekender]

You don't have to Google very hard to find answers already in the public domain.

May 19, 2023 — Russian EW is also apparently achieving real time interception and decryption of Ukrainian Motorola 256-bit encrypted tactical communications ...

https://static.rusi.org/403-SR-Russian-Tactics-web-final.pdf

Attached is the previous Russian radio series able to change parameters and keyfill using an Android phone and regular Chinese programming cable connected to a USB to USB-C adapter

 

[kayn1n32008]

You don't have to Google very hard to find answers already in the public domain.

May 19, 2023 — Russian EW is also apparently achieving real time interception and decryption of Ukrainian Motorola 256-bit encrypted tactical communications ...

https://static.rusi.org/403-SR-Russian-Tactics-web-final.pdf

Attached is the previous Russian radio series able to change parameters and keyfill using an Android phone and regular Chinese programming cable connected to a USB to USB-C adapter

Again, keys are compromised, not a defeated algorithm.

There is a big difference.

 

[RFI-EMI-GUY]

What We Know Abut Captured russia’s Torn-MDM Electronic Warfare System And How Far It "Detects" Ukrainian Fighters’ Mobile Phones On the Front Line | Defense Express

With combat range of russia’s EW system provided plus footage of captured Torn-MDM by the Armed Forces of Ukraine servicemen in the article

en.defence-ua.com