A $30 toy, Mattel’s pink GirlTech IMME, an instant-messaging device with a miniature keyboard, can be used to disrupt radio communications used by every major federal law enforcement agency, reports C/Net
An associate professor at the University of Pennsylvania, Matt Blaze co-authored a paper (pdf) at the Usenix Security symposium in San Francisco this week.
Project 25 radios, widely adopted across the federal government and many state and local police agencies, boost interoperability, so different agencies would be able to talk to one another, while providing secure encrypted communications. But federal agents frequently don’t turn encryption on, the researchers found.
To intercept the Project 25 radio communications, the researchers used a high-quality receiver that cost about $1,000 and can be purchased off-the-shelf. But, Blaze said, it’s possible to do it on the cheap: “You can do everything you need with equipment you can buy at Radio Shack… hobbyist-grade equipment.”
Representatives of the Association of Public-Safety Communications Officials (APCO), which has championed the Project 25 standard, and the Telecommunications Industry Association, which maintains the standard, did not respond to C/Net’s request for comment.
The reason jamming is relatively easy is that the Project 25 doesn’t use spread spectrum, which puts the would-be jammer at a disadvantage. By contrast, P25 relies on metadata that must be transmitted perfectly for the receiver to make sense of the rest of the communication. A pulse lasting just 1/100th of a second, it turns out, is enough to disrupt the transmission of the metadata.
In other security news, Sprint and McAfee today announced McAfee Mobile Security for Android phones, which will better help consumers protect the information stored on their mobile devices.
McAfee Mobile Security includes the following features and functionality in a single download:
Locate and track a lost or stolen mobile device via the McAfee online Web portal, even if the SIM card is replaced
- Back up important contacts, photos and videos from a mobile device or remotely via the Web
- Access personal data online from virtually anywhere. Restore data, even to a new device
- Remotely lock the mobile device to protect against misuse, such as excessive phone charges
- Remotely wipe personal data from a lost or stolen device via the McAfee Web portal, mobile Web portal or via a SMS message from a buddy device
- Set an audible alarm to help find the device, disrupt a thief, and/or set a pop-up notification with instructions for returning the device
- 24/7 real-time anti-malware protection against viruses, worms and spyware, Trojan horses and battery-sapping malware
- Safely browse and search the Web with protection from malicious websites, phishing, identity theft and credit card fraud
McAfee Family Protection Android Edition – helps protect children of all ages from exposure to inappropriate website content while enabling them to freely explore their online interests.
McAfee Mobile Security software is available as a seven-day trial and can be purchased as a 12-month subscription for $29.99. The McAfee Family Protection Android Edition is available as a 30-day trial and can be purchased as a 12-month subscription for $19.99.
