Summer 2023: All Cops Are Broadcasting - Obtaining the secret TETRA primitives after decades in the shadows
In this talk we will discuss the radio jailbreaking journey that enabled us to perform the first public disclosure and security analysis of the proprietary cryptography used in TETRA (Terrestrial Trunked Radio): a European standard for trunked radio globally used by government agencies, police, prisons, emergency services and military operators. Besides governemental applications, TETRA is also widely deployed in industrial environments such as factory campuses, harbor container terminals and airports, as well as critical infrastructure such as SCADA telecontrol of oil rigs, pipelines, transportation and electric and water utilities.
End 2023: All Cops Are Broadcasting - TETRA unlocked after decades in the shadows
This talk will present details of the TETRA:BURST vulnerablities - the result of the first public in-depth security analysis of TETRA (Terrestrial Trunked Radio): a European standard for trunked radio globally used by government agencies, police, military, and critical infrastructure relying on secret cryptographic algorithms which we reverse-engineered and published in August 2023. Adding to our initial disclosure, this talk will present new details on our deanonymization attack and provide additional insights into background and new developments.
End 2024: TETRA Algorithm set B - Can glue mend the burst?
This talk is not TETRA:BURST, but dives into the latest TETRA revision introduced in 2022. Most notably, it contains a new suite of cryptographic ciphers. Of course the cipher available for critical infrastructure and civilian use (TEA7) is intentionally crippled, and of course these ciphers were to be kept secret, but this decision was overruled due to public backlash following our publication last year. In this talk we will present a practical attack on the TEA7 cipher, which while taking a 192-bit key, only offers 56 bits of security. Furthermore, we point out improvements and shortcomings of the new standard, and present an update on TEA3 cryptanalysis, where we previously found a suspicious feature, and draw a parallel with its successor TEA6.