"The Spy Who Didn't Shag Me"

[ieatcrayonz]

http://www.slate.com/id/2135490/

 

"The Spy Who Didn't Shag Me"

Slate (02/06/06)

 

While the Senate is investigating the legality of the Bush administration's warrantless surveillance program, University of Pennsylvania computer scientists have developed simple, inexpensive methods for eluding the eavesdropping net. Phone taps commonly rely on the absence of a C-tone, the sound conveyed when a receiver is on the hook, to trigger recording. C-tones can be created by playing two frequencies in tandem, tricking the wiretap by simulating the noise that a phone makes when the receiver is idle. Military phones with C-tone buttons can be found on eBay, or, alternatively, the parts to generate the sound can be purchased at Radio Shack. UPenn computer scientist Matt Blaze tested a variety of wiretapping devices, and found that the older loop extender systems were especially susceptible to the C-tone trick. The government more commonly uses CALEA systems now, which the FBI claims are nearly impervious to the C-tone defense--a claim that Blaze disputes. In presenting his findings at the International Federation for Information Processing Conference on Digital Forensics last week, Blaze also presented tricks that can stymie software intended to intercept email, Web traffic, and file sharing. Since all the information that travels over the Internet is contained in packets, Blaze dispatched decoy packets, carrying bogus information and packaged in such a way to ensure that only the eavesdropper would receive them, not the original recipient. Blaze took advantage of the different ways of routing and processing packets, ensuring that the eavesdropper and the intended recipient would receive different versions of the same message.

[BB27]

Lets be totally realistic here. Do you really think the NSA or CIA are using technology that we even know about? Yeah, I want to use de-classified surveillance equipment to intercept eyes-only material........

 

I don't think so.