Encrypted Email Over Radio - Preview

In this video, I'll walk you through my approach for legally encrypting email and sending it over radio.
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[@tymoteuszjankowski8639]

I've been in IT for a long time and only recently got interested in radio communications. To me it's absolutely unthinkable and outraging that encryption is forbidden on ham radio. In my opinion it makes the whole thing useless. Why make it illegal for people to establish secure off-grid communications? I'm really grateful for projects like LoRa and Meshtastic - they've basically given the middle finger to those governments by enabling communication over dozens of miles within laws that were intended to only allow something like garage door remotes.

[@KarmaFlight]

Because they are afraid…

[@tymoteuszjankowski8639]

@@KarmaFlight yeah, that's the only explanation

[@major__kong]

Because encryption - the regs actually say obscuring the message - means that you can't monitor for commercial activity. Anything with a pecuniary / financial interest has other spectrum set aside for it. If obscuring messages on amateur frequencies was allowed, businesses would just start using those frequencies and clog them up and make them unusable for you. If you need obscuration, Part 90, MURS under Part 95, and the ISM bands may be for you. BTW, because the reg says obscuration not encryption, you can encrypt messages without obscuring them by publishing the method, key, and plaintext. That will allow you to experiment on amateur frequencies without running afoul of the regs.

[@EverettVinzant]

What major_kong says is accurate. But there’s a whole other side to this problem. Let’s assume that I am working a disaster, something 9/11 scale. I have a list of dead that the county I’m working with wants to send to the state. This information NEEDS to be encrypted for SO MANY REASONS. And it’s the type of information Amateur Radio Operators would be asked to handle… In the late 90’s there was a type of encryption called SkipJack. It provided a public key, a private key, and a decryption key only for the government. This would be EXACTLY the type of use case for SkipJack. The tech has existed for decades, it should be integrated in to amateur radio equipment. Then we could have both encryption and the ability to monitor traffic so that there isn’t commercial use.

[@TheTechPrepper]

You are dead on accurate with this point, @EverettVinzant. We ran into issues at one of ultra marathon events that our group was supporting. We had to relay personal medical information in the clear. This would have been an excellent case for passing encrypted tactical traffic.

[@JonCherba]

I can't wait for my digirig order, both digirig mobile and lite order plus several cables for my radios...I'm excited to work some digital modes. Thanks for the great videos!

[@TheTechPrepper]

Enjoy your new DigiRig devices and good luck getting into digital modes. Both devices still have a place. I'm using the Lite for devices that do not support CAT or for applications where I need to go with a smaller footprint.

[@JonCherba]

@@TheTechPrepper I'm trying to build my EmComm go bag.

[@MichaelGolpe]

6:12 That was fabulous! Shared with my more tech savvy friends also!

[@SendLead]

Sweet video! Just received my digirig lite, I’m looking to do P2P winlink and I’ll look for the next update on BMAC. Thanks Gaston!

[@TheTechPrepper]

Enjoy that little guy. I love mine and wish my second one was here. I'm adding support to ETC R3 for it!

[@sypher4912]

One consideration is that encrypting in K9 mail is just PGP; it protects the information itself, but provides no TRANSEC for the underlying framing and waveform.

[@TheTechPrepper]

Great call out. We're using K-9 with Open Keychain for Internet-based communication with good success. Open Keychain will be used for encrypting the body payload as an attachment in combination with WoAD over a simplex business frequency. This is the best that I can come up with given the tools that are readily available.

[@tomdonahoe3539]

​@TheTechPrepper I think, but am not certain, that Open Keychain provides for robust digital authentication if that is the concern. 73!

[@prephampaul]

Love it and going to be added to mine! Thanks as always great content!

[@TheTechPrepper]

Awesome! Thank you!

[@tomdonahoe3539]

A nice feature of a asymmetric public/private key system is that it provides for robust digital authentication, with OR without encyyption. Once your pub/private key infrastructure is in place, the recipient can be certain that message came from only you and that it hasn't been altered in any way. When the message is sent "in the clear" the authentication block is a short feild of ascii charcters at the end of the message. 73!

[@TheTechPrepper]

Exactly right. Thank you for raising this. Sender validation is a nice feature (as long as the private key is not compromised).

[@leagarner3675]

I don't think cops or fire department or government agencies should be allowed to encrypt.

[@wheeler7973]

This is great! I'll be catching it over on BMAC

[@TheTechPrepper]

Excellent. I'm putting some references and field resources for the group to get everyone up to speed.

[@TangoOscarMikeN3WS]

I don't trust any software 100%. We use one time pads if we really need to send something encrypted. It takes time to encode and decode, but hard to beat the security. Cheers.

[@TheTechPrepper]

One-time pads are great. Glad to see you use them in practice. Take is easy, Tom.

[@ke8mattj]

Now that is so cool. It was exactly what I was asking about in the comments of the last video. Thank you so much, Gaston! Also, when I saw that "e" word, I immediately knew that there will be some people having a meltdown. However, I knew you had the business license so I know it wasn't an issue. Just out of curiosity, do you have the itinerant license, or just the one to run within I think it was 60 mile radius of your QTH (when I was doing the research for it?) Since you travel, I figured you probably got the itinerant, but you mentioned a frequency coordinator so that probably means simplex license.

[@TheTechPrepper]

I have five frequencies that are for use within 28 km of the business. Thanks for the comment.

[@ke8mattj]

@@TheTechPrepper Gotcha, the simplex license. Thank you again for answering! Keep up the excellent work!

[@bruehlt]

Just an FYI. Pactor P4 Dragon modems offer an AES-256 encryption mode. You need to buy the license separate from the standard modem, but its hardware encryption. VARA also does offer encryption as well, for use on business frequencies. I don't think there are any differences in cost for its use.

[@TheTechPrepper]

I did not know this. Thank you for sharing this. I'll certainly explore the VARA FM side for UHF and the business license.

[@bruehlt]

@@TheTechPrepper I know it is offered in the standard HF version, not sure about VARA FM though. The groups io site may have more info about the FM version specifically. I would think it would offer similar functionality.

[@MichaelGolpe]

1:11 This is fabulous! Sharing!

[@TheTechPrepper]

I have a feeling that Winlink P2P is an often overlooked mode that has great applications for emcomm where zero infrastructure is a must.

[@MichaelGolpe]

@@TheTechPrepper I do also.

[@RavenwoodAcres]

Do you have I video on the process of getting your FCC business license? I have done some digging KZbin but haven't found any good videos.

[@TheTechPrepper]

I do not. My recommendation is to simply to contact a local LMR (land mobile radio) dealer in your area and have them take care of the whole process for you. I did not have the time to deal with paperwork, trackdown a frequency coordinate, and handle the logistics. The dealer in my area handled everything for one-fee and tailored the application to my needs. After a 30-minute phone call, I had my business license and frequencies allocated into 2 business days.

[@RavenwoodAcres]

@@TheTechPrepper Outstanding, thanks!

[@flightstatic4662]

Great video as always!

[@TheTechPrepper]

Glad you enjoyed!

[@snoopymec]

Man, that's interesting. It would be nice to have more on that. You're using DigiRig light in the VHF band, right? Would DigiRig light work in the HF as well?

[@TheTechPrepper]

The DigiRig Lite is just a sound card interface with a VOX circuit that triggers the PTT (transmit). It does not know which band you're on. It works on HF, VHF, UHF, etc.

[@robertjeffery3237]

please do a video on how to get the business license

[@N4EJM]

There is a how to on the Midland radios blog site

[@haxwithaxe]

I use k9 as my mail client. It's nice and simple.

[@TheTechPrepper]

I was pleasantly surprised how simple the K-9 Mail client is to use, too. The integration with Open Keychain is equally simple.

[@corradoQC]

Kleopatra a software included with gpg4win (if you run windows) would allow you to encrypt the content of the messages you want to send. Are you using PGP for encryption ?

[@TheTechPrepper]

Yes, I am using PGP.

[@mikedmann7487]

Can't imagine gettin in trouble with sum pigglatin encryption.. Glad yer all legal.

[@sypher4912]

Good morning Gaston! Any word on the next stream?

[@TheTechPrepper]

The next member stream is Saturday, July 27th at 7:00 AM PDT. We'll be talking Android and crypto.

[@mikeblaw]

If you are using VARA FM, or any VARA mode (or PACTOR), if you are using a non-amateur radio callsign/ service with Winlink, there is built in 256k encryption. Probably not enough to deter a state 3 letter agency from decrypting, but certainly enough to keep any other entity from reading your email. Keep in mind that encryption obscures the contents of your message, not the RF and entities can still DF you with fairly inexpensive equipment -- a Kraken goes for about $700 and is COTS.

[@TheTechPrepper]

You're the second person to mention the encryption supported in VARA and PACTOR. I'll be exploring VARA as the cost is orders of magnitudes less expensive. As for the Kraken SDR, I actually have one coming and will be putting it to the test in a non-urban environment. I am curious to see how well it works with a skilled operator tracking my RF activity in the backcountry. Everyone seems to be using them with a continuous transmitter in an urban environment.

[@major__kong]

AES 256 is approved up to TOP SECRET with certain caveats like key length and complexity. No one is breaking that with brute force not even 3-letter agencies. What trips people up and causes messages to be broken is the implemention of AES 256 in any given program or application. This is why you shouldn't be writing your own implementation. As for Kraken, I'm pretty sure it's worthless against spread spectrum communications assuming a good pseudorandom number generator for the XOR operation. Properly implemented, it looks like a slightly elevated noise floor not a signal. One of the original 802.11 (WiFi) waveforms, 802.11b, uses spread spectrum. You just need to force your router to use that not the newer waveforms. I'm not aware of any transmit-capable radios for amateur radio that can do SS. But SS waveforms are like candy in the military since they provide a low probability of intercept (LPI) / low probability of detection (LPD) capability.

[@kb6lcw99]

😊❤

[@MichaelLeo]

I promise I wont break any rules. 😜

[@TheTechPrepper]

I am taking your word for it. Knowledge is power. Everyone should be responsible for their actions. Cheers, bud!

[@LarsLarsen77]

I say the same thing on every single one of your videos. You can do this with wifi.

[@jakep5121]

Well, wifi is radio... so yeah. But wifi range vs 2m/HF is vastly different

[@haxwithaxe]

There's also the tiny sliver of wifi we have that we can run high power on. Can't legally do encryption there but we can do tethered balloons at 500ft to get line of sight :P WiFi isn't really a good grid down option though. It eats up a lot of power and doesn't have the range for point to point communication over long distances without serious coordination. I can get an email out over HF from just about anywhere on the planet without Internet on my end. I'd have to point my WiFi antenna at a mountain or tower that I can see from where I am to get a message out.

[@TheTechPrepper]

I can achieve anywhere distances up to about 30 miles on VHF/UHF. You can't do that with WiFi.