[ale] Encryprted External Modems

[Jeff Hubbs]

Chris -

You're headed into territory that is fairly routine for the Feds.  There
are secure phones that have a modem mode and take physical keys (Google
for "STU-3 phone").  There are also hardware encryption modems meant for
continuous serial t'comm like a T1 or a 56K line (Google "KG-84"). 
Please note that all this info is out of my head and is almost certainly
outdated; still, the Googling should prove useful.

The tinfoil hat brigade should get ready to pay big bucks and they
should be able to justify doing so in lieu of using simple COTS modems
and encrypting in software (e.g., ssh). 

Someone (wake up, Bob and Michael) who knows ssh might be able to speak
to this better than I, but I believe that if there is no actual data
being moved, ssh produces no traffic.  Some encryption schemes involve
communicating all the time, such that one layer of security for the
whole mechanism is the difficulty in establishing actual transmission
from no transmission at all.

Jeff

cfowler wrote:
> I have 2 linux boxes that need to dial each other and the tinfoil hat
> brigade is afraid someone will drop in on the PSTN connection.  Can
> anyone suggest an encrypted modem we could use?
>
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