Vodafone Devices (Sure Signal) Being Used to Eavesdrop
Hackers have reverse engineered the femtocells used by British mobile operator Vodafone, and discovered that they can be used to eavesdrop on callers and used to fraudulently place calls and send text messages. Femtocells are being used increasingly often to provide better phone reception in areas with a weak signal. They contain short-range mobile base stations—typically with a range of 30-60 feet—paired up with Internet connections. Users within the range of the femtocell have their calls routed over a home Internet connection to the mobile operator’s system.
Vodafone calls its femtocells Sure Signal. The Sure Signal costs £50, and supports up to 32 phone numbers belonging to 3G phones or Internet dongles. They can be used by any Vodafone customer, whether contracted or pay-as-you-go, with an Internet connection of 1Mbps or faster.
>> Continue reading “Vodafone Devices (Sure Signal) Being Used to Eavesdrop” »
VoIP Phone Security Concerns
An IP phone can deliver significant benefits to your organization, as long as you can trust that the phone and your communications are secure.
A presentation entitled: VoIP Security: How Secure is Your IP Phone (News -Alert)? highlights that while phone security is nothing new, there are threats within the next generation that may not have existed in the past. The first objective is to employ best practices and plug any obvious holes that exist.It is important that the IT team secure a company’s VoIP phones by ensuring privacy and appropriate access to information; maximizing service availability; avoiding unnecessary costs; extend service to remote groups securely and reliably; adhere to compliance issues; and develop an approach to security that is strategic.
Of course, wanting security for VoIP phones and actually accomplishing it are two different things. There are obvious complications that exist in this area, including the fact that there are multiple vendors and multiple applications; vendor and internal priorities tend to compete against each other; the responsibilities for security tend to be spread among internal groups; and a comprehensive defense against threats involves a number of different layers.
The security of VoIP phones is helped along by specific industry movements, including the VoIP Security Alliance (News - Alert), whose mission is to promote the current state of security research associated with VoIP. VOIPSA also promotes the education and awareness of VoIP phones security, as well as free VoIP testing methodologies and tools.
The very real threats VoIP phones are facing include voice line attacks such as eavesdropping and man-in-the-middle attacks; and call control which can expose information regarding users, systems and patterns. Defense strategies to battle these threats include physical protection, Ethernet switching, VLANs and VPNS, encrypted conversations and the maintenance of routing tables and account codes.
Best practices to protect VoIP phones include a general network where all voice streams and call signaling is encrypted, networks are evaluated for readiness to carry VoIP phone traffic, virtual LANs are used to segment voice and data and secure mechanisms are used to transverse firewalls. Remote management should only be performed through encrypted connections and proper password management must be in place. Software loads should be encrypted and tamper-proof and sets should run the minimum of services required.
Additionally, servers should be incorporated into the appropriate patch management and anti-virus systems and proper physical security should be applied to all VoIP phones and other equipment. Sufficient backup power is a must and all wireless devices should have WPA in place. Appropriate measures should also be taken to thwart PSTN threats, even when VoIP phones are in use.
While this summary merely scratches the surface of the protections that must be in place for VoIP phones to be secure, it is a great start to educating your IT team to dig a little deeper.
Susan J. Campbell is a contributing editor for TMCnet and has also written for eastbiz.com. To read more of Susan’s articles, please visit her columnist page.
Edited by Stefanie Mosca
Article source: http://voip-phones.tmcnet.com/articles/196826-voip-phones-face-significant-threats-this-generation.htm
Is Your Phone Bugged?
By Avinash Kadam, MIEL e-Security
We have been following all the action drama about the killing of the most wanted terrorist on earth with great interest. We were impressed that there was no telephone or internet connection to the safe house and that even the trash was being burnt.
The human contact, the only bridge connecting to the outside world, proved to be the proverbial weakest link. It was monitored with great patience and perseverance, and finally it was the tapping of a phone call made by this human contact that yielded success.
Taiwan ex-general sentenced to life for spying
Taipei (The China Post/ANN) – Taiwan’s former Army Major General Lo Hsien-che has been sentenced to life imprisonment by the Military High Court for spying for China, according to an announcement by the Ministry of National Defense (MND).
Lo was found guilty of passing confidential military information to Chinese intelligence agents on five occasions in exchange for bribes, meaning he had seriously violated his duty to serve his country, the MND said in a statement.
He could have been executed for violating the Armed Forces Criminal Code, however, as he already confessed his crime and cooperated during the investigation, the Military High Court decided to sentence him to life in prison, the MND statement said.
>> Continue reading “Taiwan ex-general sentenced to life for spying” »
Article source: http://sg.news.yahoo.com/taiwan-ex-general-sentenced-life-spying-085003725.html
Lawyers in webcam spying case say prosecutors are withholding evidence
Clementi, 18, of Ridgewood, jumped off the George Washington Bridge days after Ravi viewed the encounters.
Prosecutors say Ravi intimidated Clementi because of his sexual orientation, an allegation they will have to prove to a jury to make the most serious charge of bias intimidation stick. If convicted of that charge, Ravi could face five to 10 years in prison.
>> Continue reading “Lawyers in webcam spying case say prosecutors are withholding evidence” »
Article source: http://www.philly.com/inquirer/local/nj/20110726_Lawyers_in_webcam_spying_case_say_prosecutors_are_withholding_evidence.html