Saint TETRA:BURST, Who Listened to the Emergency Radios

Patron of TETRA radios, emergency services, and algorithms kept secret far too long.

Life

In 2023 researchers at Midnight Blue revealed TETRA:BURST, a set of flaws in the TETRA radio standard used by police, emergency services and critical infrastructure. One (CVE-2022-24401) allowed decrypting the communications, another held a backdoor in the cipher itself. The algorithms had stayed secret for decades, and that very secrecy had hidden the flaws rather than protected them.

Prayer

O Saint TETRA:BURST, who listens to the radios of those who come to our aid, teach us that security is born of scrutiny, not of secrecy. Amen.

How to celebrate

Celebrated by applying the radio makers' updates, adding end-to-end encryption where needed, and preferring public, reviewed algorithms.

A secret cipher, a hidden flaw.