As you’ll see from our last post – Dect is now completely insecure. Over the last two weeks I’ve been doing some more research, and it seems like around 50% of Dect phones transmit without using the optional encryption.<\/p>\n
This means that someone with just a Laptop, Com-On-Air wireless Dect PCMCIA card & Ubuntu Linux<\/a> can now monitor all those conversations you have. Imagine how much information you could be providing for identity thieves!<\/p>\n If you use telephone banking or use your credit card to pay for goods over the phone, then you really should go back to using a regular wired home phone for these calls at least (or just use your proper mobile, as these are still secure).<\/p>\n If you’re fortunate enough to own a DECT phone that does encrypt (list)<\/a>, then you are still at some risk, the reason: the data-stream passing between your phone & base-station can still be recorded – but at this moment it can’t be turned into a conversation. Once more malicious hackers start to understand the current software, then eventually brute force hacks for the encrypted calls will appear – and when they do your old calls could be dusted-off & decrypted.<\/p>\n Worryingly, it seems that Dect is used for controlling traffic lights<\/a> & some wireless credit card terminals. So these will likely become targets too.<\/p>\n This hack originated in Germany and their equivalent of the BBC’s Panorama have already done a piece on it. The equivalent of the UK’s OFCOM have already issued advice to Germans that they should stop telephone banking & giving out credit card numbers over cordless Dect phones.<\/p>\n The equipment still takes a fair bit of computer knowledge<\/a> to get working, and the PCMCIA cards are only available in limited numbers – so it might not become an epidemic-level problem. The Dosch Amand Com-On-Air type II PCMCIA cards which were selling for \u20ac40 two weeks ago are now changing hands for \u20ac200+ on eBay!<\/p>\n Frontal21 (like BBC’s Panorama in the UK) website piece.<\/a><\/p>\n Video of Frontal21 episode<\/a><\/p>\n If you want to experiment you can buy a DECT card for your PC from www.ebay.de (that’s the German eBay). Look for vendor arc-computer2 & you could pickup a type III PCMCIA or PCI card for around \u20ac25 – you should pay \u20ac10 for UK carriage if in doubt.<\/p>\n Both the PCI card and type III PCMCIA card aren’t yet supported in the dect_cli software, but they soon will be. Once supported they’ll rocket in value like the type II cards already have – as these items are no longer manufactured & stock of the product is limited.<\/p>\n Here’s a recent screengrab<\/a> from eBay.de – notice the joker selling a signed-by-the-hackers type II card for \u20ac2500.<\/p>\n