Last week, we talked about encryption during the VoIP Tech Chat podcast and posted a small blurb as well. A recent story shows how important this encryption can be to protecting privacy.
We first read the compression vulnerability on Network World, but the story has spread like butter. Like freshly opened, room temperature butter.
In a nutshell, many VoIP telephone conversations compress to save internet bandwidth. The compression allows conversations to flow with a reduction of bandwidth. As long as both parties have the same variable bitrate compression technique (or VBR), the conversation will sound “fine.”
Here’s where it gets neat…
Basically, the compression uses a method that keeps intact the voice patterns. In other words, when the voice is translated into a digital signal, the voice patterns create signal lengths. These lengths create identifiable voice patterns. So, although you wouldn’t be able to hear the voice, just knowing the lengths could give you 90% accuracy in identifying what was spoken.
Think of it as VoIP lip reading. You can’t hear, but you know what they’re saying.
How to get around this?
Use an encryption method that also changes lengths of packets or pads them to avoid detection. Encryption, like Ben Affleck, is still the bomb.
When our nation’s respected educational institutions subject sensitive data to the public, it’s time for the public to educate the educators. Sure, encryption is not the end all, god save the queen solution for protecting ourselves. But, encryption is a great tool and can provide a strong foundation for additional security measures.
The time for excuses is over. After all, our hero Benjamin Franklin used to say, “He that is good for making excuses is seldom good for anything else.“
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News.com (CNET.com for those who kick it old school) posted a great article about privacy, encryption, and security with instant messaging (“How safe is instant messaging? A security and privacy survey“). Not only did CNET.com make a nice, pretty chart of their findings, they actually talked to the most popular IM choices and some of the answers are really intriguing.
Among the many questions asked by CNET.com were:
Does your service keep server-based logs of the content of communications, meaning what a particular user sent and received?
Have you ever received a subpoena, court order or other law enforcement request asking you to turn over information about a user’s IM account?
If so, how many law enforcement requests have you received?
Have you ever received a subpoena, court order or other law enforcement request asking you to perform a live interception or wiretap, meaning the contents of your users’ communications would be instantly forwarded to law enforcement?
The standard answer to these questions was the ol’ standard that communication with Law Enforcement is not discussed — aka, we fully comply. Skype though gets huge points from us for many reasons.
Network World is posting a timely article (
News.com (CNET.com for those who kick it old school) posted a great article about privacy, encryption, and security with instant messaging (“
