, SecurityFocus 2002-09-10
The FCC-mandated network that lets officials interrupt radio and television broadcasts in an emergency is wide open to electronic tampering, and the government has no plans to fix it.
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Insecurity Plagues Amber Alert System
2002-09-10
guest user (1 replies)
guest user (1 replies)
You old guys will know what im refering to
2002-09-11
DC0 (1 replies)
DC0 (1 replies)
The primary premise of the EAS network is that every broadcaster must have two upstream sources and rebroadcast any valid messages received. (as specified in the FCC Part-11 rules)
The problems are: 1. Really dumb technology 520.83 bits per second?. 2. No way to validate the accuracy, e.g. no error detection included. 3. No authentication of message originator. 4. No recovery mechanism if something goes wrong. No way to cancel most kinds of messages, except verbaly. If someone inserts a few header bursts but no trailer everyone in the chain gets knocked off the air 'till the chief engineer shows up to reset it. This sort of problem has already happened a number of times. The FCC has 'prevented' this by making it illegal.
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