Secure jam resistant key transfer: Using the DOD CAC card to secure a radio link by employing the BBC jam resistant algorithm

The demand for reliable secure wireless communication is constantly increasing especially within the Department of Defense. As wireless communications become more critical, the need to secure them increases as well. A theoretical approach to jam resistance without a pre-shared secret (BBC algorithm) was developed at the United States Air Force Academy that can enable radios to transfer keys in a jam resistant manner. This algorithm is theoretically proven to provide significant jam resistance, however it does not provide security. The DOD Common Access Card (CAC) can enable security without a pre-shared secret using public and private key pairs. This application combines the CAC card and BBC algorithm to provide a jam resistant secure method of generating and transporting a temporal symmetric key without the use of pre-shared keys. The application specifically contains a user friendly GUI for CAC card operations on the Linux platform to include reading Public Key Infrastructure (PKI) Certificates, user authentication, and basic key management. It also contains the functions to transmit and receive public keys and encrypted symmetric keys using the BBC codec and the GNU Software Radio.