Kromek Share Discussion Threads

[trotterstrading] 06/10/2017 22:13

Their not compromised, the company have confirmed as much, Chimers is a ramper/deramper depending on whether he's long or short. That's as obvious as the nose on your face. Don't bother giving him the airtime. He's desperate for a lower entry, if he gets it he will miraculously turn bullish.Re the DARPA deal. Ive said before DARPA have announced they will be rolling out the D3S later this year to several cities. What more evidence do people need? Straight from the horses mouth. KMK have delivered them 10k detectors already, DARPA have invested millions of $$'s and man hours. KMK are sole source provider, indeed they have praised KMK at every opportunity. They are not going to walk away now. Fact. The BIG orders will come soon enough. When they do the share price will leap

[jacks13] 06/10/2017 17:34

Chimers, you quote Ruben Santamarta (Principal Security Consultant, IOActive) without explaining the precise relevance to Kromek's products or technology, neither do you explain the context in which Mr. Santamarta is speaking.

His specific concerns are associated with Radiation Portal Monitors and Monitoring Devices connected to wireless networks and wired local area networks (private LANs), using unencrypted network ports. The three manufacturers he cites being Ludlum, Mirion and Digi. The issues raised are not insurmountable and none of the companies involved appear to be unduly concerned. Securing and encrypting wifi networks is not something beyond the wit of man despite your claims and indeed it appears that Digi and Mirion are collaborating to patch critical vulnerabilities uncovered in Santamarta's research.

Now, what specifically is it that you have uncovered in Ruben Santamarta's work that leads you to believe that Kromek's products are compromised?

[rochdale] 06/10/2017 12:23

Interesting dialogue. Thanks.
One point - the D3S isn't the only string to their bow although perhaps the one that could lead to the "STEP CHANGE".

At risk of repeating myself - the lack of news to supports "STEP CHANGE" is where I have real concern and CHIMERS your point about how securing the balance sheet to open opportunities with major players hasn't led to major orders makes me worry.

[slicethepie] 05/10/2017 22:00

TT, it is also what you do with the data, there will be plenty of false positive readings. To quote kromek ....Spectroscopic capability enables threats and non-threats to be differentiated through appropriate algorithms

[chimers] 05/10/2017 21:04

It is easy to hack and encrypting does not stop it.

[trotterstrading] 05/10/2017 20:55

RF protocol, Bluetooth or otherwise is just the method of transporting data through the air. The key is encrypting the data so it's meaningless should hackers intercept the data.It's not rocket science. We're working with DARPA ffs, the guys who designed the Stealth bomber, I think they can get their heads around a bit of data encryption

[chimers] 05/10/2017 20:35

Anybody with the know how can hack radio frequencies.

[jacks13] 05/10/2017 19:14

Chimers, 'You cant "beef up" RF Protocols'.....care to explain this statement?

[chimers] 05/10/2017 16:15

He........................SUCCEEDED.

[chimers] 05/10/2017 16:15

"In this [Black Hat] talk, I'm going to try to explain how to reverse-engineer an entire radio protocol, from physical to application layer," he says

[chimers] 05/10/2017 16:14

The RF protocol used for communicating to and from the devices both lack encryption as well as use weak encryption algorithms in cases where they do employ crypto, he says. "There were weak encryption algorithms for radio communications and for updates to" the device firmware, he says.

"In this [Black Hat] talk, I'm going to try to explain how to reverse-engineer an entire radio protocol, from physical to application layer," he says

[chimers] 05/10/2017 16:12

Name 5 of these "brightest minds" ?

You cant "beef up" RF Protocols ............thats the point buster!!

[trotterstrading] 05/10/2017 16:08

If anything the IO ACTIVE Report has done KMK favour, its better to identify any potential security weaknesses ahead of a pan US roll out. Beefing up data encryption over the network should be a fairly straightforward exercise. We've got some of the brightest minds in the world working on the program, at Kromek and DARPA. I'm comfortable they will deliver.

[chimers] 05/10/2017 15:51

As IOActive’s Santamarta points out, it seems likely that other vendors in this space will be affected by similar flaws.

[chimers] 05/10/2017 15:48

Design flaws in devices used to monitor radiation levels in nuclear plants, hospitals, seaports, and at border controls, could be exploited by an attacker to inject phony radiation readings, a security researcher has found.

Ruben Santamarta, principal security consultant at IOActive, reverse-engineered the firmware of two different brands of radiation monitoring devices as well as analyzed their hardware and a proprietary radio frequency (RF) protocol used for communicating with those devices, and discovered major design flaws that leave them open for hacking.

The vulnerabilities are not your standard buffer overflows or other known classes of bugs, he says. "This research covers several design-level vulnerabilities," says Santamarta. "The vulnerabilities are related to the design of these devices and their radio protocols."

And the catch: there's no fix or patch that can remedy them, he says. "There's no solution for these issues," Santamarta says. "You can't patch them because it's the way they are designed."

Santamarta won't name the affected vendors or provide many of the technical details of his findings until his presentation on his research next month at Black Hat USA, Go Nuclear: Breaking Radiation Monitoring Devices. He says many other brands of radiation monitoring devices are also vulnerable to attack because they all use the same RF protocols for communications.

The RF protocol used for communicating to and from the devices both lack encryption as well as use weak encryption algorithms in cases where they do employ crypto, he says. "There were weak encryption algorithms for radio communications and for updates to" the device firmware, he says.

[chimers] 05/10/2017 15:19

That DOESNT MEAN they CANT be hacked.

They took a cross section of such devices for their demonstration.

Im sure I could arrange for them to specifically try Kromeks.

Let me have a word with them and get back to you in a few days.

I think it would be of everyone's benefit if they were tested this way dont you!!?

[trotterstrading] 05/10/2017 15:17

Anything can be hacked if you have enough time, money and expertise. security and data encryption measures can be applied to RF protocols. The point is the D3S network has not been hacked DESPITE the increased attention on this topic generated by the the IOACTIVE report - which highlighted concerns with OTHER VENDORS technology.

[rochdale] 05/10/2017 13:14

Have you bought one?

[chimers] 05/10/2017 12:18

I can buy a hand held radiation detector online for £150 quid!!

Delivery in 24 hrs FREE

[trotterstrading] 05/10/2017 12:02

I bought back most of those I sold yesterday at 24p very happy with that. the share price run away a bit at 36p but now looks good value again. I always knew the DARPA contracts were going to be announced late in 2017. DARPA had said as much themselves when it declared city roll out planned for end of 2017