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CRISP Researchers submit statement regarding EU-Guidelines
Funkanlagengesetz could strongly hinder security research on wireless technologies
The research group „Sichere Mobile Netzwerke“ headed by Prof. Matthias Hollick, CYSEC [at] TU Darmstadt, and six further research groups out of entire Germany have submitted a statement regarding the EU-guideline „Radio Equipment Directive (RED)“.The guideline updates the specifications for the certification of radion stations which also include WLAN-Router and Smartphones. This guideline will be implemented in Germany as the Funkanlagengesetz.
It is the goal of RED to make the operation of radio equipment safer for the environment and humans. But the guideline also contains several guidelines which could strongly hinder research on wireless technologies. One of the new regulations obliges the producers, that the playing-in of non certified software onto their equipment must be prevented .
With such a clause the researchers state, that a whole reseach branch on wireless devicesis is endangered: In many research projects the software must be changed on normal end devices,like WLAN-Routers or Smartphones,in order to test protocols and data-transfer methods.This would be impossible, if the producers were obliged to prevent are loading from software.Although the guideline contains an exception for research,this does not go far enough.The researchers quote the studies at the universites which have an exception– this hinders practical seminarsforthe students.
The new regulations from RED kann also have an negative outcome for cyberbersecurity:For the security analysis of radio equipment one often needs access to the equipment,while having to change the current Software. And old radio equipment,which do not any new security updates from the producers, can only be made secure again by means of replacing the software completely.As an example forthe risk of unsafe radios the researchers quote the fall out of Telekom routers in november 2016, through which over 900.000 people were partially without the internet for several days.
The Funkanlagengesetz will be discussed on the 30th of march in the Deutsche Bundestag and passed on to the Ausschuss für Wirtschaft und Energie. researchers from Darmstadt and six supporters from the Universitäten in Berlin, Braunschweig, Cottbus-Senftenberg, Erlangen-Nürnberg und Koblenz-Landau are addressing the decision makers in Germany and the EU with an open statement, in order to point out the dangers of the guidelines for their work.
Download of the Statement and Further Information
If your research group would also like to support the statement please contact: red(a-t)seemoo.tu-darmstadt.de
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