I just noticed an update on the progress being made in wide-area radio communication encryption that I wrote about some time ago.

Apparently a drug cartel has been building a network of repeaters large enough to cover most of a state so they can communicate without touching wired and wireless networks. Perhaps it is no surprise that the cartel in question was founded by “former army commandos”.

The equipment seized included high-powered transmitters, computers, radio scanners, encryption devices and solar power cells.

The immediate result of the operation was the disruption of the Zetas’ “chain of command and tactical coordination” in Veracruz, navy spokesman Jose Luis Vergara said.

Solar powered radio towers that can relay encrypted communication over an entire country? I see the future of global network security in this story.

The first question that jumps to mind, however, is how secure and well monitored a relay could be in the remote locations?

My second question is whether the government agency that seizes such a system will shut it down and dismantle it, or adopt it as an extension of an emergency command communication system, or use it to extend anti-cartel reporting options to the public…back to my first question.

It looks like it has been dismantled.