[SecurityRatty] tag: telecoms

Blue Box #85: Internet phone calls and terrorism, Georgia Tech report on Emerging Cyber Security Threats, phone jamming, 802.1X-REV, 802.1AE, VoIP sec

Thu, 23 Oct 2008 10:42:12 +0000

Synopsis: Blue Box #85: Internet phone calls and terrorism, Georgia Tech report on Emerging Cyber Security Threats, phone jamming, 802.1X-REV, 802.1AE, VoIP security news and more

Welcome to Blue Box: The VoIP Security Podcast #85, a 32-minute podcast from Dan York and Jonathan Zar covering VoIP security news, comments and opinions.

Download the show here (MP3, 15 MB) or subscribe to the RSS feed to download the show automatically.

You may also listen to this podcast right now:

Show Content:

00:20 - Intro to the show, contact information and how to provide comments. Welcome to all the new listeners - and to all those listeners who have been here for so long!
Programming notes:
- Three-year anniversary of Blue Box coming up on October 24th - any thoughts you'd like to share with us? (Please send them to us by October 23rd.)
The Times: "Internet phone calls are crippling fight against terrorism" - and my response on the Voice of VOIPSA blog
FierceVoIP: "UK crimefighting concern over VoIP calls, social networks"
BBC: Data powers behind the times
GA Tech Survey (PDF) (link about the GA conference )
Dark Reading: Cellphone Botnets, Blackmailing VOIP & a Healthy Cybercrime Economy
bMighty.com: Georgia Tech Security Report Scarier Than Its Football Team
cNet: Botnets on cell phones in 2009?
telecoms.com: Smartphone is a hotbed of security issues
VNUnet: Security industry falling behind hackers
AP: Phone Jamming in NH
GigaOm: EEF Challenges Telco Immunity in Court
Information Week: New Protocols Secure Layer 2
Voice of VOIPSA: Asking The Cisco Systems IPICS and JPS Raytheon ACU-2000 Experts: Questions 36-40
Other Voice of VOIPSA articles
snom technology AG: snom 820 combines mature VoIP technology with exclusive design
IDC Finds Increasing Hype Around Unified Communications Is Affecting How Customers Select Telephony Systems and Services (interesting movement in the top vendors used - Nortel out and IBM in)
Peerless VoIP Peering
Comment (IM) from Christian Wieser
Review of the last week's traffic on the VOIPSEC public mailing list
Wrap-up of the show
32:10 - End of show

Comments, suggestions and feedback are welcome either as replies to this post or via e-mail to blueboxpodcast@gmail.com. Audio comments sent as attached MP3 files are definitely welcome and will be played in future shows. You may also call the listener comment line at either +1-415-830-5439 or via SIP to 'bluebox@voipuser.org' to leave a comment there.

Thank you for listening and please do let us know what you think of the show.

EU calls for help to protect IT infrastructure

Mon, 15 Sep 2008 20:00:00 +0000

The European Commission's justice and security department is seeking outside help to improve Internet and telecoms security in the European Union.

Long Island Proposal Snags Again, on Poles

Mon, 28 Jul 2008 07:07:26 +0000

Long Island proposal still mired: The plan to put Wi-Fi up across two Long Island counties has seemed doomed to me from the start. The company that won the bid was untested, and its other in-deployment or in-proposal networks are off the table. Expertise aside, it needs tens of millions to build such a network, and financing for company-funded metro-scale projects is not available. The counties involved have pledged no purchases of services. And, perhaps the final stroke, the local utility says that E-Path doesn't meet the test of being a telecom and paying less than $10 per year for pole placement, but instead must pay the all-comer rate of $50 per year.

This is a critical distinction. Telecoms are covered under the Telecom Act of 1996 that requires non-discriminatory access to utility poles to avoid incumbent local exchange carriers (ILECs) and utilities from being gatekeepers that prevent competitive service from emerging. There are a series of tests in the law and local qualifications, too, that allow a firm to be a registered telecom. An FCC decision last year ruled that companies that mix telecom and unregulated information services on the same wires aren't disqualified from getting the Telecom Act deal, however.

But E-Path seems to meet none of the criteria except their desire to pay $10 instead of $50 per year per pole. Utility poles have held up many other municipal networks. We're not hearing more about them these days because such networks are now being built on a smaller scale for different purposes, where the number of nodes and their placement is rather different than networks built with the intent of providing indoor coverage.

Cablevision, by the way, qualifies as a telecom, this article states, which helps them in placing nodes for their planned $300m network across their coverage territory. They can also mount nodes in-line with their cable lines, using power from their cable plant on the lines already.

E-Path appears to have a variety of communication problems as well. The article notes, "Tortoretti said his Washington, D.C., attorneys disagree with LIPA's interpretation. But the attorney Tortoretti said represents E-Path, Charles Rohe, said he couldn't speak about the company or the dispute."

Later, E-Path's "chief executive said he hopes the county will help with his LIPA dispute." But an aide to the Suffolk County executive said, "That's not really our issue. That's out of our control."

Correspondent Craig Plunkett, quoted near the end, points out that if the counties were to change their minds and want to buy services on the network, the proposal would have to be rebid (appears as the sound-alike "rebuild" by accident in the online article at this moment).

Businesses ignore telecoms fraud

Sun, 27 Jul 2008 20:00:00 +0000

Businesses are ignoring the problem of telecoms fraud, even though the potential losses could be huge. According to telecoms supplier, Damovo, businesses underestimate how much they could be affected by such fraud, although its recent survey found that one organization lost £50,000 through telecoms fraud.

Help EFF Continue the Fight Against Warrantless Wiretapping!

Thu, 10 Jul 2008 10:18:03 +0000

Got this in a email this morning, makes me sad, maybe you can help,,,
I feel as if my concerns are not being given adequate
attention with my elected officials.
Especially the ones I voted into office.

Dear Friend of Freedom,

In a move that I can only describe as cowardice, Congress
just passed legislation meant to immunize telephone
companies for their illegal, disloyal, and irresponsible
behavior. EFF has been fighting against telecom immunity,
and we need your help to bring the fight to the next level:

http://secure.eff.org/wiretapping

Two and a half years ago, EFF sued AT&T on behalf of its
customers, seeking to hold the telecom giant responsible
for its craven complicity in the White House’s illegal
warrantless wiretapping program.

Since then, the phone companies and their allies in
Washington have spent tens of millions of dollars lobbying
Congress to grant them retroactive immunity. They ran
ridiculous fear-mongering attack ads against any politician
who dared to oppose them. President Bush threatened to veto
any bill that allowed EFF’s lawsuit to continue.

Yesterday, Congress completely capitulated to the
President’s threats and voted to let the telecoms off the
hook. If the telecoms are not held accountable, the
administration will remain unchecked in its warrantless
wiretapping of innocent Americans. This must stop!

We need your help to take the fight to the next level.
We’re going to challenge Congress’s unconstitutional grant
of immunity in our case against AT&T. We’re going to fight
for a congressional repeal of immunity in the next
Congress. And we’re going to file a new lawsuit against the
government, challenging its warrantless surveillance
practices, past, present and future.

Now, more than ever, we need your support!

http://secure.eff.org/wiretapping

The fight for civil liberties would never have come this
far without your help. We can’t give up now. Help EFF
today!

Sincerely,
Shari

–
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Shari Steele
Executive Director
Electronic Frontier Foundation
454 Shotwell Street
San Francisco CA 94110
http://www.eff.org/

Membership & donation queries:
membership@eff.org

All other queries:
information@eff.org

Telecom Amnesty Foes Lobby Obama Using Obama Tech

Mon, 30 Jun 2008 17:52:00 +0000

Left-leaning opponents of amnesty for telecoms sued for helping the government warrantlessly spy on Americans are turning to Senator Barack Obama's own Web 2.0 tools to lobby him to oppose a pending bill. They wonder if the new participatory politics he's relied on to secure the Democratic nomination can sway him back to his original opposition to the spying bill, or if old-style politics will rule the day.

Dont elect us for you, elect us for ,,,,US!

Fri, 27 Jun 2008 14:00:26 +0000

Did you ever get the feeling you’re not the one thats important to your elected official?

clipped from blog.wired.com

Telecom Amnesty Flip-Floppers Got More Telecom Dollars

Democrats who?switched from opposing to supporting legal amnesty to?telecoms that aided the government’s warrantless wiretapping program received twice as much money, on average, from telcom political action groups?than Democrats whose opposed the idea in?March and again last Friday, according to an analysis of campaign donations by Maplight.org.

Senate delays vote on surveillance bill until July

Fri, 27 Jun 2008 09:00:00 +0000

The Senate has delayed a vote on a controversial surveillance bill that would allow a U.S. government spying program to continue and likely result in the dismissal of dozens of lawsuits against telecoms that took part in the program.

House approves surveillance bill, protects telecoms

Fri, 20 Jun 2008 09:00:00 +0000

The U.S. House of Representatives has passed a bill allowing wide-ranging surveillance of phone calls and e-mails in and out of the U.S.

House approves surveillance bill, protects telecoms

Thu, 19 Jun 2008 20:00:00 +0000

The U.S. House of Representatives has approved legislation that would continue a controversial surveillance program at the U.S. National Security Agency with limited court oversight, while likely ending lawsuits against telecommunications carriers that participated in the program.