Back in mid-2005, Dan York and Jonathan Zar, two security professionals involved with the emerging Voice-over-IP Security Alliance (VOIPSA), decided that there was an opportunity to foster a broader discussion about VoIP security using the then-new medium of podcasting.
Taking the name from the world of phone phreaking, Dan and Jonathan launched a three-year series of shows that ran from October 2005 to October 2008 and included 85 "main" shows and 26 "special edition" shows. The main Blue Box shows are where they got together to discuss the latest VoIP security news, offer commentary on topical issues and play and respond to listener comments. These shows are numbered consecutively since the start in October 2005 and generally run about 45 minutes. The "Special Edition" podcasts (now designated with a "SE" in the show title) are typically special interviews Dan or Jonathan have done, presentations they have given or panels/presentations from conferences that that have been able to record. They are quite diverse and so do vary widely in length.
During the time of its run, the Blue Box podcast built a substantial following and received 1,000 - 1,500 downloads each week. A solid and regular corps of commenting listeners developed and many people regularly sent in comments about how the show helped them.
In late 2008, the lives of Dan and Jonathan went through some changes described in an update episode #86 in October 2009 and the show went into an indefinite hiatus. Still, though, the older episodes proved to be quite popular and in late 2012 were still receiving 30-100 downloads each day.
With the success of his book, Seven Deadliest Unified Communications Attacks, Dan continues to consider bringing Blue Box back in a limited form to discuss the topics covered in the book as well as some of the new major topics relevant today. There may be some new "special edition" podcasts coming out in the future.
Dan and Jonathan both thank you for visiting the site and hope that the shows were educational and helped you learn more about VoIP security and other forms of communication security.
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