Signaling Vulnerabilities in Wiretapping Systems

For your paranoid edification:

Overview

In a research paper appearing in the November/December 2005 issue of IEEE Security and Privacy, we analyzed publicly available information and materials to evaluate the reliability of the telephone wiretapping technologies used by US law enforcement agencies. The analysis found vulnerabilities in widely fielded interception technologies that are used for both "pen register" and "full audio" (Title III / FISA) taps. The vulnerabilities allow a party to a wiretapped call to disable content recording and call monitoring and to manipulate the logs of dialed digits and call activity. These countermeasures do not require cooperation with the called party, elaborate equipment, or special skill. Preliminary drafts of the paper have been made available to the law enforcement community; contact the authors at the above email address.

We found exploitable vulnerabilities present in virtually all analog "loop extender" or "dialup slave" wiretap systems and in at least some systems based on the newer J-STD-025A CALEA interfaces. These systems depend on unsecured "in-band" signals that can be spoofed or manipulated by an interception target via his or her own telephone line.

In the most serious countermeasures we discovered, a wiretap subject superimposes a continuous low-amplitude "C-tone" audio signal over normal call audio on the monitored line. The tone is misinterpreted by the wiretap system as an "on-hook" signal, which mutes monitored call audio and suspends audio recording. Most loop extender systems, as well as at least some CALEA systems, appear to be vulnerable to this countermeasure. Audio examples (in MP3 format) of this countermeasure can be found below.

And, just in case those links go missing, you can get every downloadable item that was in the article here, here, and here.

Put the information to good use...

--WP

Christmas is Coming

And this "life-sized" Robby the Robot is one neat gift, but, if you really want to spend $50,000.00 Federal Reserve Notes on me, then I ask you visit Ronnie Barrett's and get me the M82A1, scope & rings, nine extra magazines, and 5,000 rounds of ammo (it is what I asked Santa for).

If not wanting to do that, then I would gladly accept fifty American Gold Eagles, and, then profusely thank you for your generosity...

--WP

Which Historical General Are You?

While catching up on blogs I enjoy, I found Stoney's Post, at the wonderfully redone Rebel Yell. Here is his post on it.

He noted in his post, he scored as William Wallace and seeing as it is a day for enjoyment for me, I decided to play too:

King Edward I You scored 68 Wisdom, 65 Tactics, 56 Guts, and 71 Ruthlessness!

Or rather, King Edward the Longshanks if you've seen Braveheart. You, like Edward, are incredibly smart and shrewd, but you win at any costs.... William Wallace died at his hands after a fierce Scottish rebellion against his reign. Despite his reputation though, Longshanks had the best interests of his people at heart. But God help you if you got on his bad side.

My test tracked 4 variables How you compared to other people your age and gender: You scored higher than 64% on Unorthodox You scored higher than 34% on Tactics You scored higher than 51% on Guts You scored higher than 98% on Ruthlessness

Thanks for the link to the playtime Stoney.

--WP

Papiere Gefallen

Mr. Sharkey sent this Thanksgiving missive in yesterday morning:

Next Stop: Big Brother

Meet Deborah Davis. She's a 50 year-old mother of four who lives and works in Denver, Colorado. Her kids are all grown-up: her middle son is a soldier fighting in Iraq. She leads an ordinary, middle class life. You probably never would have heard of Deb Davis if it weren't for her belief in the U.S. Constitution.

One morning in late September 2005, Deb was riding the public bus to work. She was minding her own business, reading a book and planning for work, when a security guard got on this public bus and demanded that every passenger show their ID. Deb, having done nothing wrong, declined. The guard called in federal cops, and she was arrested and charged with federal criminal misdemeanors after refusing to show ID on demand.

On the 9th of December 2005, Deborah Davis will be arraigned in U.S. District Court in a case that will determine whether Deb and the rest of us live in a free society, or in a country where we must show "papers" whenever a cop demands them.

Make sure you have your speakers turned up real loud when you click on the title...

--WP

'The Prisoner' set for TV return in new version

The only comment posted at the link so far, is spot on.

On 23 Nov at 23:28 - Jacob C. from Arizona said:

Unless Patrick McGoohan is actually involved or this series has his blessing, it's a crime for them to go ahead with it. "The Prisoner" was McGoohan's baby, and for them to 'take liberties' with it without his approval would be little short of blasphemy - perhaps too strong a word, but this production seems to show little respect for or understanding of the original Prisoner.

For those that have never seen the show before, or really never looked at some of my links, particularly under What Have We Here, I have had a link to a great site that has been under reconstruction for a long time, but here is the Wayback Machine's copy, and here is the Google search for more.

I first watched this show in reruns, on a local UHF station when I was seven, and was mesmerised by the show and it's concept. For a while, last year, BBC America had it on, but kept shifting time slots and it was hard to get recorded. If you have never seen it or have not viewed it in years, then you would do well, my Paranoids to rent or purchase it.

Oh, and yes, even before watching the show, I was a budding paranoid...

--WP

Former Canadian Minister Of Defence - UFO's Real

Former Canadian Minister Of Defence Asks Canadian Parliament Asked To Hold Hearings On Relations With Alien "Et" Civilizations

Thu Nov 24, 7:00 AM ET

(PRWEB) - OTTAWA, CANADA (PRWEB) November 24, 2005 -- A former Canadian Minister of Defence and Deputy Prime Minister under Pierre Trudeau has joined forces with three Non-governmental organizations to ask the Parliament of Canada to hold public hearings on Exopolitics -- relations with "ETs."

By "ETs," Mr. Hellyer and these organizations mean ethical, advanced extraterrestrial civilizations that may now be visiting Earth.

On September 25, 2005, in a startling speech at the University of Toronto that caught the attention of mainstream newspapers and magazines, Paul Hellyer, Canada?s Defence Minister from 1963-67 under Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Prime Minister Lester Pearson, publicly stated: "UFOs, are as real as the airplanes that fly over your head."

Mr. Hellyer went on to say, "I'm so concerned about what the consequences might be of starting an intergalactic war, that I just think I had to say something."

Hellyer revealed, "The secrecy involved in all matters pertaining to the Roswell incident was unparalled. The classification was, from the outset, above top secret, so the vast majority of U.S. officials and politicians, let alone a mere allied minister of defence, were never in-the-loop."

Hellyer warned, "The United States military are preparing weapons which could be used against the aliens, and they could get us into an intergalactic war without us ever having any warning. He stated, "The Bush administration has finally agreed to let the military build a forward base on the moon, which will put them in a better position to keep track of the goings and comings of the visitors from space, and to shoot at them, if they so decide."

Truth? Or, is it more disinformation...

--WP

Coventry, England 1940

Churchill allowed this to happen:

"On 14 November 1940, 500 German bombers dropped 500 tons of explosives and nearly 900 incendiary bombs on Coventry in just ten hours."

When history provides examples of "leaders" sacrificing their peoples, for a "greater good", do you not think that current "leaders" also take note of these events and, perhaps, just perhaps, allow similar events to occur?

I certainly do, and Brigham Young University Physics professor Steven E. Jones makes me wonder too. For, he asserts that "it's likely that there were "pre-positioned explosives" in all three buildings at ground zero" on September 11th, 2001.

More can be read here, if you are intrigued, or simply interested...

--WP

Armistice Day

Remember the fallen and the standing.

--WP

November 8

1519 - Cortez arrived in Mexico City

1805 - The "Corps of Discovery" reached the Pacific Ocean. The expedition was lead by William Clark and Meriwether Lewis. The journey had begun on May 14, 1804, with the goal of exploring the Louisiana Purchase territory.

1847 - Bram Soker was born.

1923 - Adolf Hitler made his first attempt at seizing power in Germany with a failed coup in Munich that came to be known as the "Beer-Hall Putsch."

1942 - During World War II, Operation Torch began as U.S. and British forces landed in French North Africa.

1986 - Vyacheslav M. Molotov died at age 96. During World War II, Molotov ordered the mass production of bottles filled with flammable liquid later called the "Molotov cocktail."

2000 - Waco special counsel John C. Danforth released his final report that absolved the government of wrongdoing in the 1993 seige of the Branch Davidian compound in Texas.

Oh, and as far as I am concerned, the World came into existance forty-one years ago...

--WP

I have a son

Who does not live with me and is barely seventeen.

Today I am a grandfather, as my son's woman, who is three years older than he, bore him a child early today.

I do not ask for congratulations...

--WP