Encryption made for police and military radios may be easily cracked

Recent investigations by Dutch researchers have uncovered serious vulnerabilities in encryption algorithms used in radios critical for police, military, and other vital infrastructures worldwide. Two years ago, these researchers identified a deliberate backdoor in a widely used encryption standard, making communications secured by this algorithm susceptible to eavesdropping. When this alarming information came to light in 2023, the European Telecommunications Standards Institute (ETSI) recommended that users implement an additional layer of end-to-end encryption to enhance security. However, the same team has now revealed that at least one version of the recommended end-to-end encryption solution also harbors vulnerabilities. This particular implementation compresses a 128-bit key down to 56 bits before encrypting data, significantly weakening its security and making it easier for malicious actors to crack. It remains unclear who is utilizing this flawed encryption method and whether users are even aware of the potential risks involved. The end-to-end encryption scrutinized by the researchers is notably costly and primarily employed in communication systems for law enforcement, special operations, and covert military units, all of which require heightened security measures. ETSI's endorsement of this encryption technique suggests its adoption may have expanded beyond its initial use cases. This alarming discovery follows the earlier findings of Carlo Meijer, Wouter Bokslag, and Jos Wetzels from Midnight Blue, a security firm in the Netherlands. They initially exposed vulnerabilities within the TETRA (Terrestrial Trunked Radio) standard, a European radio protocol developed by ETSI that has been integrated into radio systems by manufacturers like Motorola, Damm, and Sepura since the 1990s. These flaws remained concealed from public knowledge for years due to ETSI's longstanding policy of restricting access to its proprietary algorithms.