Author Archives: Dan York

Blue Box #60: new VoIP security offerings from CheckPoint, VoIPShield, VoIP and business continuity, CALEA, new VoIP Security book, NAC mini-tutorial, more on botnets, listener comments and more

Synopsis: Blue Box #60: new VoIP security offerings from CheckPoint, VoIPShield, VoIP and business continuity, CALEA, new VoIP Security book, NAC mini-tutorial, more on botnets, listener comments and more

Welcome to Blue Box: The VoIP Security Podcast #60, a 28-minute podcast from Dan York and Jonathan Zar covering VoIP security news, comments and opinions.

Download the show here (MP3) or subscribe to the RSS feed to download the show automatically.

You may also listen to this podcast right now:

Show Content:

00:20 – Intro to the show, contact information and how to provide comments. Welcome to all the new listeners – and to all those listeners who have been here for so long!
01:15 – Programming notes
- Martyn Davies will be moderating a panel on VoIP security at VON Europe that will include Dan and others
- Blue Box dinner at the June VON show on Monday, June 11th
- We’ve recently set up a group on the Facebook social networking site for fans of the show. If you are a Facebook user, feel free to join.
02:28 – ComputerWeekly.com: Check Point promises more VoIP security, fewer slowdowns
03:35 – VoIPShield Security Suite Debuts…
- VoIPShield Security Suite Debuts at Interop Las Vegas
- Ken Camp response
- InfoWorld
05:21 – PC World: Attackers Get Chatty on VoIP
06:37 – Skype Journal: UK: Paedophiles use Skype to find and pursue likely targets
07:42 – TMC.net: VoIP Helps Increase Business Continuity Awareness
10:10 – VoIPNews: VoIP Providers Hold Their Breath as CALEA Deadline Passes
12:15 – New book coming out in August: Securing VoIP Networks: Threats, Vulnerabilities and Countermeasures by Peter Thermos and Ari Takanen
13:38 – Voice of VOIPSA: Security: A Question of Balance
14:23 – Voice of VOIPSA: Google Launches Security Blog
14:54 – Follow-up on the Estonian botnet issue – it apparently wasn’t Russia but instead was botnet groups and Cyberattack in Estonia—what it really means
15:48 – SPIT Framework Internet-Draft – stay tuned for a URL
16:43 – News Releases:
- Covergence Announces Support for IBM BladeCenter
16:54 – Feature – mini-tutorial on NAC
20:17 – Upcoming shows:
- Dustin Trammell will be speaking at Defcon 15 about VoIP and steganography
- Ken Camp will be moderating two panels on VoIP Security at IT Expo
- June 12-14, Stockholm, Sweden, VON Europe Spring – both Martyn and I will be there… we’ll have a Blue Box dinner
- July 22-27, Chicago, USA IETF 69
- Aug 20-23, San Francisco, CA, USA VoiceCon SF 2007
- Sept 10-12, Los Angeles, CA, USA ITEXPO West 2007
- Oct 29-Nov 1, Boston, USA, Fall 2007 VON
21:32 – comment (email) from Rhodri Davies about SIP botnets
23:55 – comment (email) about analog surveillance
25:09 – comment (blog) from Security4All
25:22 – comment (blog) from Ludovic Petit that he can’t see the PDF files
25:44 – comment (facebook) from Reuven
26:31 – Review of the last week’s traffic on the VOIPSEC public mailing list
27:29 – Wrap-up of the show
28:35 – End of show

Comments, suggestions and feedback are welcome either as replies to this post or via e-mail to blueboxpodcast@gmail.com. Audio comments sent as attached MP3 files are definitely welcome and will be played in future shows. You may also call the listener comment line at either +1-206-350-2583 or via SIP to ‘bluebox@voipuser.org‘ to leave a comment there.

Thank you for listening and please do let us know what you think of the show.

Blue Box Dinner: Monday, June 11, Stockholm, Sweden

Given that several of us will be attending VON Europe Spring 2007, we thought it made sense to get together for a dinner in Stockholm. So far, Martyn Davies, Dean Elwood, Miguel Garcia and a number of others will be there. Where is it? Currently the plan (which might change) is:

DATE: Monday, June 11, 2007
TIME: 7:00 pm
PLACE: TGI Fridays, Hamngatan 19, 1147 Stockholm

It is apparently less than 1km from the Central Station and the closest metro stations are T-Central (red, green and blue lines) and Kungstradgarden (blue line).

If you want to join us at the dinner, please leave a reply to this blog posting or drop us an email (blog reply preferred so that others can see). Anyone attending the conference – or living/working/visiting in Stockholm – is welcome to attend.

Technorati tags: blue box, bluebox, voipsa, voip security

Blue Box #59: 802.1X mini-tutorial, new VoIP security vulnerabilities, new security tools, the biggest threat to VoIP? … botnets hitting Estonia… and chimichangas and sushi trains…

Synopsis: 802.1X mini-tutorial, new VoIP security vulnerabilities, new security tools, the biggest threat to VoIP? … botnets hitting Estonia… and chimichangas and sushi trains…

Welcome to Blue Box: The VoIP Security Podcast #59, a 55-minute podcast from Dan York and Jonathan Zar covering VoIP security news, comments and opinions.

Download the show here (MP3, 24MB) or subscribe to the RSS feed to download the show automatically.

You may also listen to this podcast right now:

Show Content:

00:20 – Intro to the show, contact information and how to provide comments. Welcome to all the new listeners – and to all those listeners who have been here for so long!
01:36 – Dan and Jonathan discuss recent conferences, the US DOD’s JITC certification process and stray into Mexican food…
06:38 – Programming notes
- Martyn Davies will be moderating a panel on VoIP security at VON Europe that will include Dan and others
- Blue Box dinner at the June VON show on Monday, June 11th
- We’ve recently set up a group on the Facebook social networking site for fans of the show. If you are a Facebook user, feel free to join.
08:01 – Sipera Finds New VoIP Phone Security Threats
12:58 -Information Week: Security Tools Top 2007 IT Professionals Poll (VoIP drops to 3rd) – see also IT Business Edge
16:59 – ITP Technology: Cracking the code
18:25 – Network World: Security in PacketCable networks
20:59 – Speaking of Network World, by way of Mark Collier , we learned that Network World has a VoIP Security page
21:28 – VoIPPlanet: A series of ‘The VoIP Peering Puzzle’ background pieces on SBC’s
23:24 – Ken Camp: What’s the biggest Threat to Enterprise VoIP?
25:21 – CRN: VoIP Demystified
26:08 – TMCnet: Trends in IP Communications and the Evolution of the SBC
27:15 – ComputerWeekly.com: VoIP, UC adoption continue to rise
29:45 – Botnet attacks against Estonia:
- Washington Post: Cyber Assaults on Estonia Typify a New Battle Tactic
- CNN: Estonia suspects Kremlin in Web attacks
- BBC: Estonia hit by ‘Moscow cyber war’
- Global Guerrillas: Russia vs. Estonia: 21st Century State vs State conflict
34:04 – News Releases:
- General Dynamics Awarded $18 Million Contract to Deliver VoIP to the Pentagon
- Freebird releases VoIP call recorders
35:27 – Feature – mini-tutorial on IP phones and 802.1X
40:00 – Upcoming shows:
- Dustin Trammell will be speaking at Defcon 15 about VoIP and steganography
- June 12-14, Stockholm, Sweden, VON Europe Spring – both Martyn and I will be there… we’ll have a Blue Box dinner
- July 22-27, Chicago, USA IETF 69
- Aug 20-23, San Francisco, CA, USA VoiceCon SF 2007
- Sept 10-12, Los Angeles, CA, USA ITEXPO West 2007
- Oct 29-Nov 1, Boston, USA, Fall 2007 VON
42:12 – comment (email) from Phil about analog tapping of VoIP phone
44:28 – comment (email) from Shlomo Dubrowin
49:13 – Review of the last week’s traffic on the VOIPSEC public mailing list
49:35 – Wrap-up of the show
51:13 – End of show

Thank you for listening and please do let us know what you think of the show.

Blue Box #58: The SIP Botnet edition – VoIP bots are here, now what? Also rogue firmware mini-tutorial, other VoIP security news, listener comments, more…

Synopsis: The SIP Botnet edition – VoIP bots are here, now what? Also rogue firmware mini-tutorial, other VoIP security news, listener comments, more…

Welcome to Blue Box: The VoIP Security Podcast #58, a 35-minute podcast from Dan York and Jonathan Zar covering VoIP security news, comments and opinions.

Download the show here (MP3, 14MB) or subscribe to the RSS feed to download the show automatically.

You may also listen to this podcast right now:

Show Content:

00:20 – Intro to the show, contact information and how to provide comments. Welcome to all the new listeners – and to all those listeners who have been here for so long!
00:53 – Programming notes
- Dan was out in Fort Huachuca, AZ, for a US DoD telecommunications conference
- Martyn Davies will be speaking on May 23 at the Eurosec conference in Paris (replacing Dan)
02:20 – Voice of VOIPSA: Ready or not, here come the IRC-controlled SIP/VoIP attack botnets
15:15 – Voice of VOIPSA: SIPit 20 shows the very clear need for SIP security interoperability
15:29 – MSN Money: Your phone may be under attack
16:43 – TechRepublic: Four obstacles to implementing VoIP (also Russell Shaw blog post)
17:31 – News Releases:
- Borderware: The economic impact of VoIP Security Vulnerabilities and how to secure VoIP for business (announcing new white paper)
18:23 – Feature – mini-tutorial on set firmware and the issue of rogue firmware loads
22:41 – Upcoming shows:
- May 23-25, Paris, France Eurosec Forum 2007 – Martyn Davies will be speaking
- June 12-14, Stockholm, Sweden, VON Europe Spring – both Martyn and I will be there… we’ll have a Blue Box dinner
- July 22-27, Chicago, USA IETF 69
- Aug 20-23, San Francisco, CA, USA VoiceCon SF 2007
- Sept 10-12, Los Angeles, CA, USA ITEXPO West 2007
- Oct 29-Nov 1, Boston, USA, Fall 2007 VON
23:20 – comment (email) from Craig Bowser about CPEs
25:08 – comment (email) from Frank Leonhardt about GoogleTalk and SIP
25:42 – comment (email) from Simon Wood about recording hardware
27:14 – comment (email) from natas
28:51 – Review of the last week’s traffic on the VOIPSEC public mailing list
29:21 – Wrap-up of the show
30:16 – End of show

Thank you for listening and please do let us know what you think of the show.

Facebook group for "Fans of Blue Box" now created…

If any listeners use the Facebook social networking site, I have now created a “Fans of Blue Box: The VoIP Security Podcast” group which you are welcome to join. I have no idea, really, what we will do with the group and whether or not we’ll even use it for anything at all. Largely, I suppose, that depends upon how many people join the group. It’s all just part of our continued experimentation with “social media”… and anyone who wants to join in the experimentation is welcome to do so.

Technorati tags: blue box, facebook

Blue Box #57: Call signaling encryption mini-tutorial, VoIP eavesdropping, VoIP security news, listener comments and men in white vans…

Synopsis: Call signaling encryption mini-tutorial, VoIP eavesdropping, VoIP security news, listener comments and men in white vans…

Welcome to Blue Box: The VoIP Security Podcast #57, a 35-minute podcast from Dan York and Jonathan Zar covering VoIP security news, comments and opinions.

Download the show here (MP3, 18MB) or subscribe to the RSS feed to download the show automatically.

You may also listen to this podcast right now:

Show Content:

(Time codes were lost in a browser crash and will be added back in the future.)

00:20 – Intro to the show, contact information and how to provide comments. Welcome to all the new listeners – and to all those listeners who have been here for so long!
VoIP News: Your VoIP Calls are Wiretapped – and Other Legal Surprises
ZD Net blogs: They CAN spy on your IP, VoIP – through walls!
ComputerWorldUK: Virus and access protection slip down security concerns (none of execs concerned about VoIP security) – also WebWire
IETF: New draft of media keying security requirements
ChannelWeb: Cisco To Partners: Make Security Part Of Every Deal
eWeek: Extreme pumps up the network
News Releases:
- Sipera: Transition Toward End-to-End IP Driving Demand for Enterprise Media Gateways
Feature section on voice encryption
Upcoming shows:
- May 14-17, Santa Clara, CA, USA Communications Developer Conference
- May 18, Rochester, NY, USA, RIT VoIP Conference
- May 23-25, Paris, France Eurosec Forum 2007 – I am speaking
- June 12-14, Stockholm, Sweden, VON Europe Spring – both Martyn and I will be there… we’ll have to have a Blue Box dinner
- July 22-27, Chicago, USA IETF 69
- Aug 20-23, San Francisco, CA, USA VoiceCon SF 2007
- Sept 10-12, Los Angeles, CA, USA ITEXPO West 2007
- Oct 29-Nov 1, Boston, USA, Fall 2007 VON
comment (blog) from Zapperlink
comment (email) from Craig Bowser about Verizon vs Vonage
comment (email) from Ponyboy about our mention of Project Wal-Mart Freedom
comment (email) from Reuven Lakein
comment (email) from Roel Villerius
Review of the last week’s traffic on the VOIPSEC public mailing list
Wrap-up of the show
35:10 – End of show

Thank you for listening and please do let us know what you think of the show.

Crossing the 100,000 download mark!

Sometime this morning between about 7 and 8am Eastern US time, this podcast crossed a major milestone…. the 100,000th download occurred!

Now in the world of "mainstream" media this is a trival number that would hardly merit attention. But in the new and emerging medium of podcasting, I, for one, will celebrate that milestone… especially for something that is admittedly as niche of a topic as "VoIP security"!

To look at it another way, we’ve put out 74 shows since we started about 1.5 years ago. That works out to an average of 1,351 downloads per show… for a show that averages 45 minutes in length!

That there are that many folks interested in our show and topic continues to be a very humbling fact. It’s an honor for us… and a responsibility that we don’t take lightly. We know that just as easily as you have subscribed and downloaded our show, you have an amazing amount of choices out there and you can just as easily go elsewhere.

Both Jonathan and I THANK YOU for your continued support and participation! We have been delighted by the community of listeners and contributors that has grown up around the show and we do look forward to the continued growth of that community and to reaching many more milestones in the months and years ahead. Thank you all.

Read on if you have interest in statistics…

Addendum for stats geeks (like me): You will notice in the image above that I have included the "raw requests". These stats come from our hosting provider, LibSyn,
and reflect the fact that a certain percentage of downloads start but
then don’t complete or, I guess, make duplicate requests. It could be
due to connectivity issues… software errors… or other reasons.
It’s interesting to me that it’s about 11% of requests that LibSyn
filters out.

I also find it interesting to see the division
between podcatchers and direct web downloads – and the slight skew
toward web downloads. "Podcatchers" are where the listener has
subscribed through the show’s RSS feed. The web downloads are direct
from the site, either by download or by the embedded Flash media
player. Given the increasing ease-of-use of podcatchers like iTunes,
Juice and others, I find it intriguing that there are slightly more
direct downloads than subscription downloads (52% download versus 48%
podcatcher).

I’d be curious to know if this distribution is
similar for other podcasts as well or if it reflects some of the other
marketing we do. We post notices about new shows to the Voice of VOIPSA weblog, which also winds up on the front page of the VOIPSA web site. Additionally, and I think this may be a larger reason, we post to the VOIPSEC
mailing list, which has something like 3,000+ subscribers. We’ve heard
of a lot of people finding the show through VOIPSEC. I’ve also
discovered over time that there are a lot of folks who, after learning
of the show, go back and listen to a lot of the back episodes. We know
also that the fact that we post detailed show notes does have an impact
because web searches will return our podcast episode pages for common
searches on VoIP security terms and also VoIP companies.

Actually,
in looking at the stats for individual recent episodes, the
distribution there is more like I would expect – about 60-70%
podcatcher and the remainder direct downloads. So perhaps the overall
tilt toward downloads really does reflect people exploring the back
catalog through downloads, either as new subscribers or through finding
it via search.

Thoughts from any other stats geeks or podcasters?

If you subscribe via RSS, you may need to re-download Blue Box #56

If you downloaded Blue Box #56 and wound up with a PDF file, here’s why – as I noted in an "UPDATE" section at the top of the show notes to Blue Box #56, I inadvertently deleted the "enclosure" link attribute that clues podcatchers in to which media file to download. Without an enclosure link attribute, podcatchers seem to download the last "media" file. Normally, this might not have been a problem as we usually just link to other web pages, but because we linked later to the SAGE Journal PDF file, that file was chosen as the one to download. (Although it still boggles my mind a bit that podcatchers couldn’t be designed to download only MP3 files or others from a range of audio/video formats.

I’ve fixed the link and podcatcher downloads are now working, but if you wound up with a PDF file instead, you’ll unfortunately need to download the audio file directly from the Blue Box #56 show notes.

Blue Box #56 – Voice encryption tutorial, Skype worm, McAfee’s Sage Journal, Zfone, VoIP security news, listener comments and more…

Synopsis: Voice encryption tutorial, Skype worm, McAfee’s Sage Journal, Zfone, VoIP security news, listener comments and more…

UPDATE – April 24: Unfortunately, due to an error in coding the appropriate enclosure (now fixed) many of you who subscribe via RSS will have downloaded a PDF file instead of the MP3 file. My apologies, and you’ll need to unfortunately download the file directly from the website at this point.

Welcome to Blue Box: The VoIP Security Podcast #56, a 38-minute podcast from Dan York and Jonathan Zar covering VoIP security news, comments and opinions.

Download the show here (MP3, 18MB) or subscribe to the RSS feed to download the show automatically.

You may also listen to this podcast right now:

Show Content:

00:20 – Intro to the show, contact information and how to provide comments. Welcome to all the new listeners – and to all those listeners who have been here for so long!
01:24 – New worm wriggles around on Skype (also on CSO Online ) – See also F-Secure blog and Jan Geirnaert
03:06 – Voice of VOIPSA: Ghosts of VoIP Security Tools Past…and Future? (note the comment in reply from the grugq)
04:41 – McAfee’s Sage Journal and their Global Threat Review (and the mention of VoIP)
- McAfee news release
- McAfee Sage Journal (PDF)
- InfoWorld: McAfee: Cyber-crime will continue to pay
- CNET/ZDNet: McAfee offers ‘Sage’ advice on security issues
- Tech.co.uk: Cybercrims will ‘find new ways to make money’
- Khaleej Times (UAE): Cybercrime, other security issues will increase=
- also interesting to note that McAfee Avert Labs has a blog

08:00 – Information Week: VoIP Too Complicated? Tell That To The Cable Companies
11:02 – TechRepublic: PKI vs. Zfone: What’s your best bet for VoIP security?
12:07 – SC Magazine: Mobile security: when will it become necessary?
13:04 – ComputerWorld Malaysia: All-in-one security devices face hurdles
– interesting for the mention of “Unified Threat Management” (UTM) and
the growing concern about how to work with VoIP (expressed in final
paragraph)
17:04 – Security Watch by Steve Gold: VoIP – a flawed technology?
19:47 – News releases:
22:23 – Feature section on voice encryption
31:53 – Upcoming shows:
- May 14-17, Santa Clara, CA, USA Communications Developer Conference
- May 18, Rochester, NY, USA, RIT VoIP Conference
- May 23-25, Paris, France Eurosec Forum 2007 – I am speaking
- June 12-14, Stockholm, Sweden, VON Europe Spring – both Martyn and I will be there… we’ll have to have a Blue Box dinner
- July 22-27, Chicago, USA IETF 69
- Aug 20-23, San Francisco, CA, USA VoiceCon SF 2007
- Sept 10-12, Los Angeles, CA, USA ITEXPO West 2007
- Oct 29-Nov 1, Boston, USA, Fall 2007 VON
33:25 – comment (email) from Aswath Rao
35:25 – comment (email) from Craig Bowser
35:47 – comment (blog) from Amit about VoIP SEAL PDF files
36:33 – Review of the last week’s traffic on the VOIPSEC public mailing list
37:02 – Wrap-up of the show
38:14 – End of show

Thank you for listening and please do let us know what you think of the show.

If any listeners will be at InfoSec 2007 in London this week, Martyn and Frank will be there…

If any Blue Box listeners are going to be at the InfoSec 2007 conference this week in London, Frank Leonhardt will be there on Wednesday and Martyn Davies will be there on Thursday. If you would like to connect with either Frank or Martyn, leave a message here and we’ll be sure they get it.

Blue Box: The Voice-over-IP Security Podcast

A podcast offering news, views and commentary on security issues for Voice Over IP(VoIP), Unified Communications (UC) and IP Telephony

Author Archives: Dan York

Blue Box #60: new VoIP security offerings from CheckPoint, VoIPShield, VoIP and business continuity, CALEA, new VoIP Security book, NAC mini-tutorial, more on botnets, listener comments and more

Blue Box Dinner: Monday, June 11, Stockholm, Sweden

Blue Box #59: 802.1X mini-tutorial, new VoIP security vulnerabilities, new security tools, the biggest threat to VoIP? … botnets hitting Estonia… and chimichangas and sushi trains…

Blue Box #58: The SIP Botnet edition – VoIP bots are here, now what? Also rogue firmware mini-tutorial, other VoIP security news, listener comments, more…

Facebook group for "Fans of Blue Box" now created…

Blue Box #57: Call signaling encryption mini-tutorial, VoIP eavesdropping, VoIP security news, listener comments and men in white vans…

Crossing the 100,000 download mark!

If you subscribe via RSS, you may need to re-download Blue Box #56

Blue Box #56 – Voice encryption tutorial, Skype worm, McAfee’s Sage Journal, Zfone, VoIP security news, listener comments and more…

If any listeners will be at InfoSec 2007 in London this week, Martyn and Frank will be there…