4 ms·

This reminds me of UVB-76[0], a shortwave military radio in Russia. It would be interesting know why they're using this method to communicate covertly rather th

• jacknews 6mo ago
  perhaps they're not directed at deeply embedded lone spies with radios in their attics, but at 'military assets' which as a matter of course can receive these transmissions on a designated schedule.
• teeray 6mo ago
  It’s simple, reliable, and effective. Shortwave receivers can be made fairly compact. They’re also very prevalent in most countries (every ham transciever), so there’s nothing suspicious to pack. People find numbers stations interesting, so they are often streamed online. One time pads have their logistical shortcomings, but are still the best encryption possible. The OTP can be compromised in known, visible ways, where a phone has myriad invisible ways to be compromised.
  • smegger001 6mo ago
    You could probably cheat with the one time pad and use a book as a key, pick a pre determined starting point go diagonally down accross the page convert the letters to numbers and xor that against the message. It would be near enough to random and less conspicuous than a pad of random numbers when searched.
    • teeray 6mo ago
      That feels like something that could suffer from frequency analysis.
      • ted_dunning 6mo ago
        It's called a book cipher and it is definitely subject to various statistical attacks, especially if you have a list of almost all books.
        • smegger001 6mo ago
          You could probably do something to increase the apparent entropy like xoringing it with an irrational number like tao or pi starting with a digit determined by the date.
• nemomarx 6mo ago
  Phones usually contain the hardware for radio too, so making sure agents have some set of models for that doesn't sound bad. Even if you had to use a dedicated one having a radio at home isn't that conspicuous? Or in a car, etc
  • gorfian_robot 6mo ago
    a consumer phone usually would only have an FM receiver
  • eichin 6mo ago
    ooh, new fodder for conspiracies about electric cars not having AM radios :-)
• ndiddy 6mo ago
  Like the article says, satellite messages can be traced while radio is broadcast to everyone so it's impossible to find out who's listening. Shortwave radios are also cheap and widespread, so it's easy to get one anywhere in the world and if your house gets searched, it won't be suspicious if you have one.
  • tdeck 6mo ago
    > Shortwave radios are also cheap and widespread, so it's easy to get one anywhere in the world I always hear this in discussions about number stations, but I don't think this is true in the US. In fact, I don't think I've ever seen a general consumer "shortwave radio". Unless the regular AM band counts, which seems to be medium wave.
    • gorfian_robot 6mo ago
      def a niche consumer item these days. but pretty easy to make your own.
    • ndiddy 6mo ago
      The term for shortwave radios targeting the general consumer market is "world band radio". They look like a standard portable AM/FM radio except they'll also pick up long wave, medium wave, short wave, and maybe weather band. They're more of a niche in the US now that internet streaming is a thing, but you should still be able to get one at most electronics stores. Of course like most niche products, you'll get much better selection and pricing online.
    • JohnFen 6mo ago
      I'm in the US. At least half of the people I know own shortwave radios, although most don't think of them as "shortwave radios". They're more often called "world radios" or some other such synonym. I could run out to a consumer electronics store right now and buy one. The younger people I know tend to own such a radio in the form of the Baofeng UV-5R or the like.
      • lukeinator42 6mo ago