DECT Security Step B&C Certification Available

The DECT Forum has announced the launch of the Certification Program for DECT Security Steps B&C.

Security is an increasingly important topic in all IT and Telecom solutions, whether they are fixed or wireless. The DECT standard has evolved over time to stay ahead of this trend and today includes state-of-the-art algorithms for authentication and encryption. These algorithms are based on the Advanced Encryption Standard AES-128.

The roadmap for security improvements that was established by the DECT Forum and ETSI TC DECT, consists of three distinct steps. The first of these, Step A, entailed the implementation of a number of security features to improve the original standard which was based on the DSAA authentication and DSC cipher. The Certification Program for Step A has been in place for several years.

The following step in the roadmap, step B, brought an improved authentication algorithm (known as DSAA2). Finally, step C introduced an improved encryption algorithm (known as DSC2).

A growing number of DECT Forum members have apparently already implemented or are in the process of implementing these algorithms in their products and therefore the DECT Forum is now adding steps B&C to the DECT Security Certification Program.

The DECT Forum has developed together with its industry partners the tools required for the certification testing and is pleased to announce that test house Nemko will be handling the Step B&C certification testing. The DECT Forum will update its website to not only show which products have been certified for Security, but also the actual certification level of certified products.

Although the DECT Forum strongly recommends its members to implement both Steps B&C in their products, some members have asked to be able to certify only Step B on a temporary basis. In view of this it was decided to allow requests for certification of Step B only for a limited period, and such requests will be accepted until December 31, 2022.

From January 1, 2023 only certifications for Steps B&C will be accepted.