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| Mar 30, 2007 5:08 am |
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re: How secure are your calls? |
| Dave Porteous
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Great subject Ken. PSTN security relies on the closed nature of the network and the very physical construction of the access technology i.e. usually copper pairs buried in the ground or carried overhead. So whilst not technically secure, such networks present a logistical challenge to gain access to. Within the telco itself it is of course very easy to listen in to telephone conversations using the management capabilities of TDM based digital switches.
For IP based services with smart end user devices encryption from end device to end device can be very effective. So whilst it may be easier to access the packets traversing the network it can be made very difficult to interpret them.
I suppose this is great news for those wishing to protect their privacy and that's a good thing where such privacy is desired for legitimate activities, but it does present quite an obstacle for law eforcement and other legal intercept authorities. As an incumbent preparing to replace it's entire TDM based PSTN network with an all IP infrastructure I'm expecting we will have this as one of the many complications that come with building a carrier gade network - along with inumerable others like admission control, OSS and BSS models, numbering, location identification etc etc.
So plenty of excitement left in the fixed line world still :-)
Anyone else have any insights on this?
All the best,
Dave.
Private Reply to Dave Porteous (new win) |
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