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back to article Satellite phones lift skirt, flash cipher secrets at boffins

Researchers at the Ruhr-University Bochum have managed to extract the secret encryption algorithmns used by satellite phones, and discovered that it's a lot less secure than one might hope. Benedikt Driessen and Ralf Hund analysed firmware updates for popular satellite handsets to extract the ciphers used by the Thuraya and …

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  1. Loyal Commenter Silver badge
    Facepalm

    Security by Obscurity?

    When will people learn?

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    1. Ru
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      Boffin

      These things are old

      Security by obscurity was still cool back when they were designed. They just haven't kept up to date.

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      1. umacf24
        Reply Icon

        Not since 1883

        Kerckhoffs' second principle.

        1 0
      2. Anonymous Coward
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        Anonymous Coward

        Security by obscurity was hotly debated when these phones were designed. Many in the security field were issuing strong warnings about it, but the manufacturers were dead set on using it because THEY wanted to control the security, not use publicly available encryption technologies..

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  2. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Upset some people

    I'm sure in secret bunkers all over the world some people are cursing this disclosure.... closes a nice intel feed they've been using for a while...

    AC because the black helicopters might be coming for me...

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  3. Gordon Pryra
    WTF?

    Disappointing

    Where is the promised skirt lifting :(

    0 0
  4. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Inmarsat monitoring stations

    On the market already. Tritech UK for example. It's prominently on the Interweb.

    0 0
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