Strange crypto modules for Systems Saber - what is this??
Posted: Fri Dec 15, 2006 11:13 am
Hi!
A friend gave me three crypto modules for Saber radios, to test them, and I do not know what they are.
The stickers on them say 1133630 and a kind of serial number (4 digits), no date code, no other marking.
Inside they look like DES, some Motorola ICs inside, but the usually golden crypto chip is black, identical housing, white sticker on it with hand written "V8.1", under the sticker no further marking.
So I put one inside a Saber III, turned the radio on, and the radio wrote "key fail" when trying to transmit. Tried to KVL them it a T3011DX, it sayed "passed", but still "key fail". Took the other module, put it into a Systems Saber, and without KVLing it the radio transmitted in secure mode! Took the first module outside the Saber, put it into another Systems Saber, "key fail" :( F*#*, maybe I erased something when trying to KVL it, so I put the third (untouched) module into the radio, and it keyed up in secure, both radios could talk to each other. So far, so good.
So I took the first module without a key, put in into a third Systms Saber, tried to KVL it into several slots, several times, and after some playing around suddenly it transmitted in secure, of course it could not talk to the other two radios. At first I had no idea what I did to make it work.
Playing with the two working radios revealed that they could talk to each other, regardless, what keys I manually selected via the keypad.
After all I decided to risk the working, non volatile keys in the modules and found out that the modules need to be keyed into all eight slots to be able to talk to each other, either manually or in one rush with GLOAD.
The amazing thing is, when I change one single digit in one of the keys, the radios can not talk to each other, and I found no way that they would communicate with a normal DES/DES-XL-radio.
What did I pick up? They need eight (!) keys to work, they KVL with an old T3011DX, they seem not compatible with DES, the keys are not lost when power is removed. Audio quality is like DES, and it gets a bit worse when XL is activated, just like DES-XL. The delay when talking into one radio and listening to the own transmission on a second radio seems a bit bigger than with DES. The transmission is FSK at 12kbit/sec like DES, noise with the 6KHz beep at the end.
What the h**ll is this?
A friend gave me three crypto modules for Saber radios, to test them, and I do not know what they are.
The stickers on them say 1133630 and a kind of serial number (4 digits), no date code, no other marking.
Inside they look like DES, some Motorola ICs inside, but the usually golden crypto chip is black, identical housing, white sticker on it with hand written "V8.1", under the sticker no further marking.
So I put one inside a Saber III, turned the radio on, and the radio wrote "key fail" when trying to transmit. Tried to KVL them it a T3011DX, it sayed "passed", but still "key fail". Took the other module, put it into a Systems Saber, and without KVLing it the radio transmitted in secure mode! Took the first module outside the Saber, put it into another Systems Saber, "key fail" :( F*#*, maybe I erased something when trying to KVL it, so I put the third (untouched) module into the radio, and it keyed up in secure, both radios could talk to each other. So far, so good.
So I took the first module without a key, put in into a third Systms Saber, tried to KVL it into several slots, several times, and after some playing around suddenly it transmitted in secure, of course it could not talk to the other two radios. At first I had no idea what I did to make it work.
Playing with the two working radios revealed that they could talk to each other, regardless, what keys I manually selected via the keypad.
After all I decided to risk the working, non volatile keys in the modules and found out that the modules need to be keyed into all eight slots to be able to talk to each other, either manually or in one rush with GLOAD.
The amazing thing is, when I change one single digit in one of the keys, the radios can not talk to each other, and I found no way that they would communicate with a normal DES/DES-XL-radio.
What did I pick up? They need eight (!) keys to work, they KVL with an old T3011DX, they seem not compatible with DES, the keys are not lost when power is removed. Audio quality is like DES, and it gets a bit worse when XL is activated, just like DES-XL. The delay when talking into one radio and listening to the own transmission on a second radio seems a bit bigger than with DES. The transmission is FSK at 12kbit/sec like DES, noise with the 6KHz beep at the end.
What the h**ll is this?