this post was submitted on 17 Sep 2024
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Interestingly, given just how compromised smart phones are at this point, a pager has now become a far safer means of communication.
Well apparently not anymore
Traditionally pagers use either FLEX or POCSAG protocols, both of which are fully unencrypted and have to broadcast everywhere with relatively high power... So safer is maybe a bit of a misnomer... But they also don't transmit anything so in terms of remote listening and location tracking, yes they are safer.
Right, I meant safer in terms of the device doing what you expect it to be doing. Also, pagers that support encryption are absolutely a thing.
Absolutely, I'm just putting some nuance into it for people who don't know anything about pagers.
Fair, but it appears these were Apollo Gold A25, an off the shelf FLEX system.
Yeah, in this case I'm guessing they'd just use coded messages when communicating. Ultimately, that's even more effective since those are indistinguishable from regular messages unless you know the special meaning of the words used. So, they're even less likely to attract attention.