From piracee@hrw.org Fri Jul 6 02:39:58 2018 From: Enrique Piraces To: cypherpunks-legacy@lists.cpunks.org Subject: Re: [liberationtech] Exactly how are satellite transmissions tapped/intercepted, in Syria and elsewhere? Date: Fri, 06 Jul 2018 02:39:58 +0000 Message-ID: <172289092130.3849117.9404529302484417640.generated@mail.pglaf.org> MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: multipart/mixed; boundary="===============1697765363075301865==" --===============1697765363075301865== Content-Type: text/plain; charset="utf-8" Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable Hi all, thanks for the detailed responses on this thread.=20 I'm trying to understand how weak BGAN, Thuraya, Iridium encryption could be.= For example one of them claims in its site that "Thuraya's integrated satell= ite communication solutions are rapidly deployable, employ the highest level = of encryption, and are proven in meeting exacting security standards for use = in the field." Beyond the ability that some may have to detect the location of a call/connec= tion and log their calls, how true is that their encryption can protect the c= ontents of the information transmitted? Is the risk the same for each voice/d= ata/text? Is part of the solution to use encryption modules like http://www.shoghicom.c= om/thuraya-encryption.html? Thanks, Enrique > While this information is > encrypted there seems to be some doubt as to the strength of that > encryption. The US military complex did not have much faith in it and > seems to have been able to bypass or crack the encryption to access the > location information of Thuraya devices used by Iraqi Government > officials[2]. While it is not clear exactly how this was achieved we do > know that Thuraya devices were manufactured by Boeing and this fact may > have contributed to an easy decryption route for US forces. >=20 Thuraya is easy to monitor. It's not even expensive. There are commercial solutions and there are non-commercial projects that work with common hardware. Satellite communication networks are absolutely not secure to use without additional protection. If location anonymity is important, I highly advise against using satellite communications technology. Unless you've properly tampered with the device to falsify the location reporting, you're probably not as secure as you'd like... _______________________________________________ liberationtech mailing list liberationtech(a)lists.stanford.edu Should you need to change your subscription options, please go to: https://mailman.stanford.edu/mailman/listinfo/liberationtech If you would like to receive a daily digest, click "yes" (once you click abov= e) next to "would you like to receive list mail batched in a daily digest?" You will need the user name and password you receive from the list moderator = in monthly reminders. Should you need immediate assistance, please contact the list moderator. Please don't forget to follow us on http://twitter.com/#!/Liberationtech ----- End forwarded message ----- --=20 Eugen* Leitl leitl http://leitl.org ______________________________________________________________ ICBM: 48.07100, 11.36820 http://www.ativel.com http://postbiota.org 8B29F6BE: 099D 78BA 2FD3 B014 B08A 7779 75B0 2443 8B29 F6BE --===============1697765363075301865==--