Thanks Matt. Indeed there seems to be a significant number of options to intercept, for example, Thuraya. For those interested, a few sample results of a quick google search: "The L-3 TRL Thuraya Monitoring System that passively intercepts C-band and L-band downlinks from the Thuraya satellites. The TMS monitors transmissions from the Thuraya handset to the network via the satellite at C-band, and monitors transmissions from the network to the Thuraya handset at L-band. This provides full duplex interception and recording for all calls passing through the seven spotbeams centered on the installed system" More on this: http://www.trltech.co.uk/app/webroot/files/L-3%20TRL%20TMS%20Brochure(1).pdf Other: http://www.interceptors.com/intercept-solutions/Thuraya-Satellite-Intercepti... http://www.stratign.com/communication_intelligence.asp Brian, I'd be interested in learning more about the product of your research. Best, Enrique On Nov 29, 2011, at 12:44 PM, Matt Mackall wrote: On Tue, 2011-11-29 at 16:43 +0000, Enrique Piraces wrote: Hi all, thanks for the detailed responses on this thread. 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 satellite communication solutions are rapidly deployable, employ the highest level of encryption, and are proven in meeting exacting security standards for use in the field." A security self-evaluation by a company's marketing department isn't worth much. Beyond the ability that some may have to detect the location of a call/connection and log their calls, how true is that their encryption can protect the contents of the information transmitted? Is the risk the same for each voice/data/text? Thuraya is a telecom company, which means the default assumption should be that they: - use poorly-implemented crypto that can be defeated by sophisticated third parties - have built-in "lawful intercept capability" - have extensive logging and data retention - will hand this data over to authorities at the slightest provocation The past decade has shown us the above is true of basically all terrestrial providers, and there's no good reason to think satellite is different. And there's no reason to think they've done a better job with their crypto tech than the industry groups that created WEP and GSM. Is part of the solution to use encryption modules like http://www.shoghicom.com/thuraya-encryption.html? No. The first two bullet points above (at least!) probably apply. The only way for a private citizen to get assurances that are better than marketing copy is to use open source tools that have survived the close public scrutiny of the security community. -- Mathematics is the supreme nostalgia of our time. _______________________________________________ liberationtech mailing list liberationtech@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 above) 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 ----- -- Eugen* Leitl <a href="http://leitl.org">leitl</a> 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