VoIP Tech Chat

Wow… 3 podcasts this year. Yes, friends… we’re back and this time it’s personal. This week again try our 30 minute format and discuss such great topics as weight, personally identifiable information, search and seizure, comcast unreliability, and more.

As always, VoIP Tech Chat can be accessed from:

• VoIP Tech Chat (download mp3)
• iTunes
• And, thanks to popular request, you can also stream the chat by pressing the play button below

  Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

Links of “Interest:”

• Comcast Outage and Phone Complaints
• No Target, You Cannot Scan my ID
• Follow Fred on Twitter
• Follow Patrick on Twitter (Yay!)

Comcast Outage?

We’ve been hearing complaints of Comcast service issues in both Nashville and Atlanta. Although the company’s network status page shows everything to be ok, reports from users indicate a severe problem affecting home, business, and voice service.

Frank Eliason posted through his @ComcastCares twitter feed the following message at 10:30am EST:

We are aware of internet and phone trouble in and around Nashville. Engineers are on it. more info soon

At this time there is no information from Comcast regarding the nature of the problem, the impacted services, or the expected resolution. As of 12:30pm the Comcast Network Health page still states “No Known Issues.” On the other hand, Comcast users report otherwise: Read the rest of this entry »

AVG posted a virus removal CD for both linux and windows systems.

The AVG Rescue CD is essentially a portable version of AVG Anti-Virus supplied through Linux distribution. It can be used in the form of a bootable CD or bootable USB flash drive to recover your computer when the system cannot be loaded normally, such as after an extensive or deep-rooted virus infection. In short, the AVG Rescue CD enables you to fully remove infections from an otherwise inoperable PC and render the system bootable again.

Haven’t tested it, but looks like a nice tool for an IT Pro’s arsenal.

• http://www.avg.com/us-en/avg-rescue-cd

Every phone tree should follow Nestle’s lead.

Read the rest of this entry »

Cisco recently announced a Denial of Service vulnerability within the SIP implementation of the Cisco IOS Software. Cisco devices running affected Cisco IOS Software versions that are configured to process SIP messages are affected. The vulnerability allows a remote attacker to reload a device and/or execute remote code.

Cisco recommends removing SIP support unless needed. “If the affected Cisco IOS device requires SIP for VoIP services, SIP cannot be disabled, and no workarounds are available. Users are advised to apply mitigation techniques to help limit exposure to the vulnerabilities. Mitigation consists of allowing only legitimate devices to connect to affected devices. To increase effectiveness, the mitigation must be coupled with anti-spoofing measures on the network edge. This action is required because SIP can use UDP as the transport protocol.”

The full advisory is reprinted below: Read the rest of this entry »

Santa??

Wow… 2 podcasts in a single month??? Yes, VIRGINIA, there is a Santa Claus. He exists as certainly as love and generosity and devotion exist, and you know that they abound and give to your life its highest beauty and joy.

As always, VoIP Tech Chat can be accessed from:

• VoIP Tech Chat (download mp3)
• iTunes
• And, thanks to popular request, you can also stream the chat by pressing the play button below

  Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

Links of “Interest:”

• Follow Fred on Twitter
• Follow Patrick on Twitter (Yay!)
• FiveRR
• Inventions of the 20′s

Upgrade Me

If you’re running Firefox 3.6, Mozilla strongly recommends you update to version 3.6.2. The new version corrects a critical security hole allowing an attacker to crash your browser and/or run arbitrary code on your machine.

The Security Warning advises:

Mozilla Foundation Security Advisory 2010-08

Title: WOFF heap corruption due to integer overflow
Impact: Critical
Announced: March 22, 2010
Reporter: Evgeny Legerov
Products: Firefox 3.6 Read the rest of this entry »

Friendly, yet still Spam.

We love the “blog” format of presenting information for a multitude of reasons; one big reason being the comment factor. The posting of comments to VoIP Tech Chat allows discussions to occur, posts to remain “current,” easy updates, and more. Comments also allow spammers the opportunity to increase page rankings of whatever site they are trying to promote.

What is a PageRank Anyway?

According to Google Fun Facts, “The basis of Google’s search technology is called PageRank™, and assigns an “importance” value to each page on the web and gives it a rank to determine how useful it is. However, that’s not why it’s called PageRank. It’s actually named after Google co-founder Larry Page.”

The Twitter Summary: PageRank measures the importance of websites by mathematically evaluating the links from other webpages. Better PageRank, more site traffic. (SWEET! A Twoosh!)

We Post Therefore We Receive SPAM

Through a combination of social marketing, submissions, and indexing, this site (much like most others), becomes the target of spammers wishing to increase the ranking of whatever site will bring them some pocket change. Read the rest of this entry »

This year marks the second decennial census since widespread use of the internet began in the 1990′s. The bulk of census activity takes place during the time when people are traditionally preparing taxes and vying for an infusion of cash  from their tax return.  The evil peoples of the interwebs will be out in force to take advantage of  the under-informed.

Keep these simple rules in mind:
Read the rest of this entry »

Verizon recently issued a press release where they introduced two new “packages” aimed to help small to medium sized businesses through “rough economic times.” Although the packages are detailed and named in the press release (reprinted below), the release and website are a little lacking for information regarding costs and fees. If Verizon will be making it easier (and cost effective) to get SIP Trunks to end users, this may open a great window for PBX systems such as Asterisk, SwitchVox, FreeSWITCH, and more.

The press release follows:

Small and Medium-Sized Business Options Are Focus of Verizon Global Wholesale Offers

Voice Over IP and Powerful Internet Access Packages Bolster Business Success In Rough Economic Times

March 15, 2010

NEW YORK – At a time when small and medium-sized businesses look for every technological advantage to help them continue as the fundamental economic growth engine in the U.S., Verizon is providing support with three new voice-over-IP and Internet packages available through the Verizon Global Wholesale division. Read the rest of this entry »