Editor's Note:  Here are a couple thoughts I have about this.   First, you should always assume that every  major application out there mostly likely have some sort of remote access for governmental agencies to monitor criminals.  This is not paranoia, but if the application has encryption then you know the NSA has keys if it is distributed in the U.S.  Second, you really should not be doing anything illegal but you happen to find yourself astray of the law then you should not be using any of the high technology to conduct yourself in these ways.  I am in no way supporting any illegal acts, I am just giving helpful advice to my audience.  Lastly, this does not surprise me being the amount of users they have, it would be quite odd of our defense agencies could not  monitor this type of communication.

According to reports, there may be a back door built into Skype, which allows connections to be bugged. The company has declined to expressly deny the allegations. At a meeting with representatives of ISPs and the Austrian regulator on lawful interception of IP based services held on 25th June, high-ranking officials at the Austrian interior ministry revealed that it is not a problem for them to listen in on Skype conversations.

This has been confirmed to heise online by a number of the parties present at the meeting. Skype declined to give a detailed response to specific enquiries from heise online as to whether Skype contains a back door and whether specific clients allowing access to a system or a specific key for decrypting data streams exist. The response from the eBay subsidiary's press spokesman was brief, "Skype does not comment on media speculation. Skype has no further comment at this time." There have been rumours of the existence of a special listening device which Skype is reported to offer for sale to interested states.

There has long been speculation that Skype may contain a back door. Because the vendor has not revealed details of its proprietary Skype protocol or of how the client works, questions as to what else Skype is capable of and what risks are involved in deploying it in an enterprise environment remain open.

Last week, Austrian broadcaster ORF, citing minutes from the meeting, reported that the Austrian police are able to listen in on Skype connections. Interior ministry spokesman Rudolf Gollia declined to provide heise online with a comment on the matter. He did, however, offer general comments on the meeting, which were, however, contradicted by other attendees.

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Posted by Dal at 10:45 AM | Direct Link | TrackBacks (0) Posted to Skype

"With continuous advancements in technology and a growing focus on security, it's increasingly important for IT professionals and those seeking employment in IT to update their technology skills. Career IT training can help keep skills fresh."

Kaplan's three new certificate programs, which include a Cisco Certified Entry Networking Technician (CCENT) certificate, Cisco Certified Network Associate (CCNA) certificate and Cisco Certified Network Professional (CCNP) certificate, are designed to prepare students for positions as systems engineers, systems administrators, or information security specialists.

The Cisco Certified Entry Networking Technician (CCENT) Certificate program is designed to teach students how to install, setup, operate and troubleshoot a small organizational branch network. The courses will include the fundamentals of networking, routing and switching; how to connect to a Wide Area Network; basic wireless and security concepts; configuring and operating IOS devices; and how to configure simple networks. The CCENT is the first step towards the CCNA and CCNP certifications.

The Cisco Certified Network Associate (CCNA) Certificate program is designed to teach students to install, setup, operate and troubleshoot a medium-size routed and switched network. The training includes lessons in implementing and verifying remote site connections in a Wide Area Network, and implementing network security and mitigating security threats. The courses will also cover network types, media, and the TCP/IP and OSI network models; how to identify IP routes and manage IP traffic; and how to establish point-to-point and frame relay connections.

The Cisco Certified Network Professional (CCNP) Certificate program is designed to teach students to install, setup, operate and troubleshoot large enterprise local and wide area networks with 500 or more nodes. Students will receive training in managing routers, switches and enterprise applications that integrate wireless networking, security and voice systems into a network.

KCE's Cisco IT training is self-paced and accessible virtually anywhere and any time. Each Cisco certificate program can be completed in six months or less. The Kaplan Continuing Education certificate programs offer online career education and training to professionals looking for a real-world education coupled with the flexibility of web-based learning. KCE programs are designed to provide students with the educational foundation they need to distinguish themselves from the competition. 

Kaplan Continuing Education is part of Kaplan University, which is based in Davenport, IA. Kaplan University is regionally accredited by The Higher Learning Commission (HLC) and is a member of the North Central Association of Colleges and Schools (NCA). The University offers more than 100 academic programs and currently serves more than 41,000 online and on-ground students. To learn more, visit www.kaplanuniversitynews.com.

Source: PR Web 

Posted by Dal at 10:41 AM | Direct Link | TrackBacks (0) Posted to Cisco

Posted by Dal at 03:27 PM | Direct Link | TrackBacks (0) Posted to Asterisk Releases

Each attendee will be responsible for their own travel, meals and lodging costs; the conference sessions will only have a beverage bar and light snacks. There will be free wireless Internet access in the meeting room and in the guest rooms at the Renaissance.

This year we plan to focus our efforts on media stream handling and codec (format) negotiations; at the previous two DevCons we have talked about these topics but not made any significant progress, and it's time to get the work done to improve Asterisk so it can do a better job handling complex media streams and changing codec requirements.

If you are interested in attending, send an email application to Kevin Fleming at kpfleming@digium.com including your name, your involvement with Asterisk (or related projects), and who is sponsoring your attendance (if any company or person is doing so). We will accept applications until August 15th, and then make the decisions about who we can accept based on their level of contribution and the space available at the event.

You can find accommodation and travel information on the AstriCon website at AstriCon.net

Posted by Dal at 10:22 AM | Direct Link | TrackBacks (0) Posted to Asterisk Development

Posted by Dal at 09:00 AM | Direct Link | TrackBacks (0) Posted to Cisco

In order to avoid repeating name resolution for every network connection, many systems store the results in a cache for a certain length of time. If an attacker succeeded in slipping false addresses into such a cache, he could divert any network connections to systems under his control. That would open up the possibility of enormous phishing campaigns and the large-scale theft of passwords, credit-card data, and even access data for online banking.

The fundamental problem with the DNS is that the responses to queries can, in principle, be faked. For that reason, current systems use a randomly selected 16-bit transaction ID for each query. If the answer also contains this ID it comes from the correct server, and the prospect of an attacker guessing it is negligibly small.Amit Klein, however, has already shown several times how implementation errors, say in the random-number generator used, can be exploited to enable DNS cache poisoning.

Vulnerability notes from US-CERT say the security expert Dan Kaminsky has now discovered a general method for reducing the odds sufficiently, for cache poisoning to be implemented effectively. The method is evidently not based on defective implementation, but on a cunning attack scenario that markedly increases the attacker's chances. Kaminsky doesn't want to reveal the details until the Black Hat conference in August. Almost all noteworthy vendors are affected, including ISC (whose BIND is the most widely used server), Cisco and Microsoft.

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Posted by Dal at 11:39 AM | Direct Link | TrackBacks (0) Posted to VoIP Security

snom technology AG, developer and manufacturer of IP phones for the commercial and residential markets, announced today the next generation of voice: snom klarVOICE. This wideband handset, which can be adapted to all snom VoIP telephones, captures more than twice the spectrum of voice frequencies than standard phones enabling phone conversations with greater clarity and richness.   

Posted by Dal at 10:21 AM | Direct Link | TrackBacks (0) Posted to VoIP Hardware

Posted by Dal at 12:10 PM | Direct Link | TrackBacks (0) Posted to Asterisk Releases

Editor's Note:  We have been using their SIP termination service for almost 2 years now and it has been great.  I am really glad to hear MS choice a solid company with good support.  Kudos

Microsoft has selected Junction Networks as a preferred SIP trunking and gateway service provider for its Microsoft Response Point small business phone system (PBX). The Response Point Service Pack 1, generally available today, will feature services from Junction Networks pre-configured for simple account activation and maintenance.

Posted by Dal at 12:21 PM | Direct Link | TrackBacks (0) Posted to VoIP News

Cisco took a $78 million haircut on its VMware stock investment after it was announced today that VMware co-founder and CEO Diane Greene had been sacked. Perhaps most telling of the unpleasantness surrounding today's event is that Diane Greene is no longer even acknowledged as a co-founder on the VMware leadership/co-founder web page.

Representing Cisco's investment on the VMware Board of Directors is retired Cisco CFO - Dennis Powell. Of the seven directors on the VMware board who made the decision to sack Greene, only Powell and Renee James are not either EMC executives or EMC directors. James sits on the VMware board representing the investment made by Intel Corporation in VMware stock.

Cisco's 6 million VMware shares have lost $507.8 million of their value since October 31st - 2007, leaving Cisco with only a $91.1 million profit on its original $150 million VMware investment.

Source: Network World 

Posted by Dal at 11:58 AM | Direct Link | TrackBacks (0) Posted to Cisco

A former computer contractor for the City of Newark has admitted he cheated technology giant Cisco Systems of several million dollars. In pleading guilty Wednesday to mail fraud and tax evasion, Michael Kyereme admitted he fraudulently obtained computer parts from Cisco and then resold them.

The 41-year-old Piscataway man faces up to 20 years in federal prison when sentenced in November. He remains free on $500,000 bond. When arrested in March 2007, authorities said Kyereme cheated San Jose, Calif.-based Cisco of more than $10 million, but no figure was specified Wednesday.

Source: MercuryNews

Posted by Dal at 01:31 PM | Direct Link | TrackBacks (0) Posted to Cisco

At 500,000-plus subscribers, YMax would vault ahead of every pure-play VoIP provider, save Vonage, currently the No. 1pure-play provider with roughly 2.6 million subscribers. YMax will know whether its customers will renew their subscriptions starting in January and February of 2009, a year after the MagicJack began to roll out to a large audience, Borislow said.

Launched last year, the MagicJack plugs into a computer’s USB port and features an RJ11 jack for connecting a traditional home phone. The service supports caller ID, voicemail, voicemail-to-email and call forwarding.

The device works when the computer is on and will forward inbound calls to a cellphone if the computer is off.

The company’s hook is super-low-cost calling. After the first year is up, it costs $20 for a full year of nationwide, all-you-can-dial calling.

“We originally thought that business travelers would use this, but what we’ve found is that in these economic times, people are desperate to get rid of their landline phone,” Borislow said. The most MagicJacks have been sold in Florida and California, respectively, where economic times are tough, he added.

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Posted by Dal at 01:33 PM | Direct Link | TrackBacks (0) Posted to VoIP Hardware

Note:  I will be upgrading day 1.  I can't stand the  EDGE network.  The name serves it right because everytime I use it, I feel like I am on the edge of the network. 

The 8-GB 3G iPhone will only cost customers $199 if they sign up for a two-year contract, AT&T said Tuesday. AT&T also revealed voice and data plans and what customers need to do to be "iReady" when Apple's 3G second-generation iPhone hits the streets July 11. "We can't wait to offer iPhone 3G to our customers, and we want to make sure the buying process is as easy as possible," said Ralph de la Vega, president and CEO of AT&T's wireless unit, in a statement. "Considering all the great new features of iPhone 3G, we think our pricing and monthly plans present a tremendous value for consumers and businesses alike."

Posted by Dal at 01:14 PM | Direct Link | TrackBacks (0) Posted to VoIP News