[Cryptography] N. Korean radio broadcasts string of random numbers

Tom Mitchell mitch at niftyegg.com
Sun Sep 4 15:13:28 EDT 2016


On Thu, Sep 1, 2016 at 2:52 PM, Dave Horsfall <dave at horsfall.org> wrote:

> On Tue, 30 Aug 2016, Bill Cox wrote:
>
> > If by amateur radio, you mean [crypto over] ham radio, then I strongly
> > recommend you do not do that.
>

Somehow we got side tracked to the legality of this in contrast
to the reality of it.

If Korea is doing this the US/Ham radio laws do not apply.
If it is Wolfman Jack broadcasting from across the border the
transmitter is outside of the legal reach of US law.

If this is a clandestine transmitter by an agent it is interesting at other
levels.

With modern tools voice or CW can transmit global signals with power
from a lunch box and a long tuned wire antenna.  Timers can make it quiet
(power off) except on a schedule.  Spread spectrum keyed by a number
code from the mother ship might be near impossible to locate for
a return message.

If a nation state is sending these numbers it is either noise, message or
keys
for a return message.

With the internet there is little need for bandwidth in any RF signal.
Mail boxes can be anyplace on the globe and multiple hops to find
data on any one or more of millions of hacked machines.

The historic number stations are still clouded in secrecy.
Those secrets fuel speculation... their utility is unchanged.

Rightly so those chartered with maintaining national security
and law enforcement worry about communications going dark.
Most solutions presented are selfish in design and forget the
modern symmetry (goose gander) of attack and defense.

All the grand stories of cryptographic wins involved tools and codes
unique to the opponent. Today both sides have the same tools and
that is a landscape change of great importance.

International criminals trade in data for cash today.  Alcohol
and drugs are physical contraband and have very different
communication models involving command and control.

For both it is also still a needle in a haystack problem.

So what other cryptographic value might be attached to these transmissions?



-- 
  T o m    M i t c h e l l
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