Recently we received an inquiry from a user that "hacked" the "weak" security of Meshtastic. The user was a self-proclaimed expert that studied computer technology. Words from users like this can spread fast over forums and Discord. If you have come across data suggesting Meshtastic security is not strong, here is what you should know.
Meshtastic uses 256-bit AES (AES-256), which is considered extremely secure, effectively unbreakable with current technology when implemented correctly. No practical attack exists that can brute-force it.
It has 2^256≈1.16×10^77 possible keys, which is:
1,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 possible keys.
To put it in perspective, if you built a machine that could test 1 trillion keys per second and ran it for the entire age of the universe (~13.8 billion years), you would still not come close to exhausting the keyspace.
So how did our hacker friend do it so quickly and easily?
When AES-256 gets “broken”, it’s usually not the math — it’s the implementation:
| Weakness | What happens |
|---|---|
| Bad passwords | Human-guessable keys defeat strong crypto |
| Reused IV/nonce | Allows message pattern leakage |
| Side-channel attacks | Power usage / timing leaks the key |
| Compromised endpoint | Malware steals decrypted data |
| Poor key storage | Keys found in memory, logs, firmware |
256-bit AES is used for classified government data, military, and banking. Security is one of the strongest points of Meshtastic communications.
Military and First Responder 
