Security Flaws Allow Wiretaps to be Evaded

An anonymous reader writes "The New York Times is reporting that a team of researchers led by Matt Blaze has discovered that technology used for decades by law enforcement agents to wiretap telephones has a security flaw that allows the person being wiretapped to stop the recorder remotely. It is also possible to falsify the numbers dialed. The flaws are detailed in a paper being published by the IEEE. Someone who thinks he's being wiretapped can apparently just send a low tone down the line that turns off the recorder. The link has a demo."

quickest way to Cuba

[RY]

Try it and find out...

Let me get this straight...

[dada21]

High frequency tones turn off teenagers.

Low frequency tones turn of the NSA.

Slashdotter vocal tones turn off women.

Did I miss anything?

Bad news for voice over IP

[MillionthMonkey]

The FBI is going to want voIP providers to duplicate this remote recorder stopping flaw so that it works just like the POTS network that they're used to tapping!

Wanna get rid of a wiretap on your phone?

[kcbrown]

Seems to me there's a, um, more permanent solution:

1. connect disposable phone to phone line
2. call some unimportant number
3. connect 50,000 volt source to the phone line
4. ZAAAAAP!!!!
5. Watch feds exit the van across the street. You know, the one with the smoke billowing out of it.

Oh, yeah, guess I forgot a step: flee the country, because they'll be after your ass now!

Re:Let me get this straight...

[Shadow Wrought]

New sign at the NSA: Now Hiring Teens!

It's a trap!

[Jeremi]

1. Make up fake story about how to disable phone tapping via special tone
2. Get story published on Slashdot (etc)
3. If the people you are wiretapping start sending the tone, you now know they suspect they are being monitored
4. Better yet, having used the tone, they now think they can talk freely
5. gather evidence!
   

Re:Wanna get rid of a wiretap on your phone?

[mOdQuArK!]

Just need more voltage to arc across the blown fuse terminals, right?

Why yes, I do enjoy playing with Tesla coils. Why do you ask?

Re:In other news...

[ikkonoishi]

Attn. Agent Snowman:The cows have jumped the moon. I repeat the cows have jumped the moon. It is too late to close the barn door.

Yeah, right...

[garyok]

Is this some sort of darwinian IQ test for terrorists? You can just imagine the gleeful delight on their simple, child-like faces and the unrestrained joy they will experience with unfettered access to telecommunicaions this will allow.

[low hum down a phone line]

"Hello. Is that you Omar?"

"Why, yes it is Osama. How are you today? And what's the weather like like in your donkey burrow in Yemen? The weather's great here in Florida. My view from the Delano Hotel's room window is fabulous - I am also ordering martinis like James Bond."

"Yes, yes... quit your bragging. Just because you weren't born with the most recognisable stripey beard in the world... Now can we please start planning our next atrocity?"

"Ah yes. It is pleasing that we can freely discuss our locations and plans now that the engineers of the American military-industrial complex have told us how to easily counteract their most sophisticated surveillance. Their foolishness in revealing this technique to the entire world, via the internet, has allowed us to dispense with our counter-surveillance training, techniques, and equipment. It is truly a golden age for violent reactionaries wishing to impose a totalitarian pseudotheocracy on the idol-worshipping, hemp-smoking, fornicating, soulless infidels!"

"Wait! Who THE FUCK did you say told you this would work?!"

"Yes, the Americans. They said we'd be safe if we did this. How typically naive of them. Their destruction is assured!"

Re:Wanna get rid of a wiretap on your phone?

[Mattintosh]

Sounds like a good time to test out those new BOFH-Brand(tm) "fuses" found in the nail aisle of your local hardware store.

Re:Double-edged sword

[fatmal]

Of course nobody would actually play that tone over the phone

What if Barry White makes a call - does that count as a low tone?

ThinkGeek

[Leroy_Brown242]

So, how long until http://www.thinkgeek.com [thinkgeek.com] has phones that do this automaticly? :)

quick fix

[Anonymous Coward]

just have everyone start phone conversations with "president bomb alquada" and /. the wire taps, they can't record, or at least filter everything.

demo link

[BushCheney08]

The link has a demo.

Hey, it works! I tried the demo and a few minutes later the big black van parked out front drove away...

Re:Feature, not a bug...

[Anonymous Coward]

The cops may not be able to listen in, but now you're talking directly to Batman, so you're just as busted.

heh, that's why I talk in code

[Anonymous Coward]

I just use this simple code:

"bomb" = "orange"

"airplane" = "comfy chair"

"hijack" = "order sausage"

"jihad" = "balanced diet"

"suicide bomber" = "that kid with the funny teeth"

"terror attack" = "breakfast at Denny's"

"Mohammed" = "Steve"

"Osama" = "Mom"

"Praise Allah" = "Don't forget to write"

For instance, I might want to send along the following message:

"Hey Steve! Mom says, don't miss breakfast at Denny's THIS TUESDAY AT 10AM. As part of your balanced diet, you need to order sausage from the comfy chair. Don't forget the big juicy orange. Give it to the kid with the funny teeth. You'll know him when you see him. Don't forget to write!"

Heh. If the goons ever found out, I'm in deep shit.

D'oh.

Re:Yeah, right...

[Anonymous Coward]

When you enter America, as a terrorist you already passed a very difficult IQ test.
You have to fill in a form and one of the questions you have to answer is:

Are you a terrorist? (yes/no)

Needless to say, answering this question saves a lot of work for Customs...

Clever plan

[heikkile]

Problem: Too much wiretapping, not enough time to shift through them all. Solution: Get the suspect to mark the interesting discussions with a special tone. Give highest priority to the taps that have used this magic tone. Pretty clever, if you ask me.