Cyber Crime and Cyber Terrorism

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Proposed PPDR communication network architectural solutions
an approach drastically reduces the power efficiency, increasing the power consump-
tion of the system to unacceptable levels. This has hindered the growth on the user 
uptake. An important advantage, however, of the TETRA standard is that it has a 
number of open interface specifications that can be used by application developers 
to further enhance the capabilities of TETRA. Although TETRA uses many of the 
principles of GSM, TETRA has been specifically designed to enable communication 
by the emergency services (Police, Fire, Ambulance, etc.) as it has distinct features 
from and over GSM including:
• Group communication—the ability of one individual to talk to a large number 
of other operatives in a walkie-talkie type mode of operation.
• Very quick call setup times to ensure critical communication can occur rapidly.
• Priority/Congestion management techniques to ensure that during overload 
periods important (potentially life threatening) communication can occur.
• Security of communication. A number of techniques are included in the standard 
and restrictions are placed on the way the products are designed to ensure that 
communication cannot be “eaves dropped” and the units tampered with.
• Dependability—through the different levels of grade of services and the way the 
infrastructure is installed TETRA networks are more resilient during times of 
emergencies than commercial communication bearers.
TETRA is a clear winner in the commercial battle for a communications technology 
within the PPDR sector. However, in order for TETRA to deliver its potential and 
for the advanced services envisioned in the next generation of PPDR communication 
network to be achieved, significant development is required.
Despite the advantages of TETRA there are a number of issues which prevent 
TETRA’s more widespread adoption. These include: Product Cost; Product Size; 
Data capability of the products. These are driven by the demanding protocol, per-
formance, and security requirements that differ from a commercial mobile network. 
These aspects in turn prevent both the full integration of the emergency staff using 
a secure communication system and critical/useful data not being transferred over 
secure and guaranteed communication bearers. By improving the technology used 
by the emergency services within European and specifically TETRA the quality and 
value for money of the services will be improved.