ABs using technology to thwart espionage
Mate just emailed me this. AB's taking things pretty seriously..
The All Blacks have employed cutting edge technology to carry tactical messages from the coaching box to the playing field.
New Christchurch-designed radios virtually eliminate the threat of espionage by making hacking of transmissions virtually impossible.
Digital encryption of the radios' frequencies make much more difficult any oppositions' covert attempts to listen in on Steve Hansen's top secret communications to his players and staff at ground level
All Blacks manager Darren Shand said: "There's always that sort of speculation and that sort of paranoia around it and I think, you know, the right thing to do is to take these things to the highest level so that you know that it's something you don't have to worry about.
"You just remove all those external problems from your environment and people can get on with their work without worrying about things they don't need to worry about."
Martin Deacon of electronics company Tait Communications, which makes the radios, said: "I guess for the All Blacks they don't want anybody eavesdropping on their tactics that they might be swapping in the game, particularly the English who need all the help that they can get."
The system being used by the All Blacks is of the the same standard of information protection being adopted by police all around the world.
"Sao Paolo's probably the best example of that, where they feel it's been part of a 60% drop in crime in the city - because of these radios," Deacon said.
He concedes the devices are not 100% fool-proof but said anyone hopeful of breaking the encryption codes and accessing the All Blacks messages would need a great deal of time and a wealth of resources at hand to have any chance of being successful.
"If you've got a bank of super computers and about 200 spare years on your hands then, yeah, probably."
