Critical Flaw Found in Widely Used TETRA Encryption

Researchers have uncovered critical vulnerabilities in the encryption algorithms used in TETRA radio systems, widely adopted by police and military forces globally. The study reveals that TEA1, one of the TETRA standard's encryption algorithms, has a key reduction vulnerability, weakening it to a mere 32 bits and making it crackable in under a minute. Furthermore, flaws in the end-to-end encryption (E2EE) implementation reduce the key size to 56 bits, potentially allowing interception of voice and data communications. These vulnerabilities affect numerous users employing the TCCA E2EE scheme, including law enforcement and military agencies across Europe, the Middle East, and beyond. While some algorithms have geographical usage restrictions, TEA1 is also used in critical infrastructure in the US and elsewhere. The findings highlight significant global communication security risks and necessitate urgent security updates to TETRA systems.