dumb question network security

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Commodore

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#41908 24-Sep-2009 22:37

i was just wondering how secure is the new xt mobile network is our voice calls encrypted in anyway. what about text messages are they encrypted what sorta of protection do we have on our private data?.

i know the text message hack doesn't work but what bout voice privay

rscole86

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#258195 24-Sep-2009 22:46

From who or what? I am sure that if you had a few thousand dollars, and enough time to waste, people could listen in on your phone calls.
Not sure if its a two way street though, ie if they get both ends of the call or just the one.

tonyhughes

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#258204 24-Sep-2009 23:12

Unless you invest in your own end to end encryption functionality, seperate to the networks own offerings, you can pretty much forget about security.

Its there, but do you have control, visibility or any kind of reporting over it / from it? Nope.

scorpiworld

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#258208 24-Sep-2009 23:15

Not a dumb question but a good one! :) I can't give you exact facts or figures but can assure you as part of testing the network before launch a lot of time and money was spent on security testing internally and externally.

Telecom employed internal security testers to complete the standard functional security testing such as trying unauthorised access to all systems, applications, checking password complexities of authorised users and permissions related to their level of access. As part of moving these systems in to production or live network an audit is completed and all accounts not required are removed.

For external penetration testing Telecom employed an independent 3rd party to perform this, detailed reports were supplied back to telecom on how secure the XT Network was, potential holes and recommendations to increase security anywhere there were weaknesses.

Must note that no network in the world is 100% secure and there is always a cost benefit formula to apply, how much do you spend on securing something 99.99% where the chance of someone exploiting a hole is 0.01%? Again can’t give you details on how secure the network is, but the technology used is industry standard and should provide the same level of comfort using XT as any other network.

There is always New Zealand’s commercial and privacy laws Telecom must abide by! If there was any problems you will be sure the press will make it front page news (2Degrees anyone!?) :)

daman88

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#258216 24-Sep-2009 23:33

scorpiworld: Not a dumb question but a good one! :) I can't give you exact facts or figures but can assure you as part of testing the network before launch a lot of time and money was spent on security testing internally and externally.

Telecom employed internal security testers to complete the standard functional security testing such as trying unauthorised access to all systems, applications, checking password complexities of authorised users and permissions related to their level of access. As part of moving these systems in to production or live network an audit is completed and all accounts not required are removed.

For external penetration testing Telecom employed an independent 3rd party to perform this, detailed reports were supplied back to telecom on how secure the XT Network was, potential holes and recommendations to increase security anywhere there were weaknesses.

Must note that no network in the world is 100% secure and there is always a cost benefit formula to apply, how much do you spend on securing something 99.99% where the chance of someone exploiting a hole is 0.01%? Again can’t give you details on how secure the network is, but the technology used is industry standard and should provide the same level of comfort using XT as any other network.

There is always New Zealand’s commercial and privacy laws Telecom must abide by! If there was any problems you will be sure the press will make it front page news (2Degrees anyone!?) :)

Nice Answer -- Think of it similarily to internet -- and other networks -- information that you gave out to govt or anybody such as insurance -- is it secure? can you trust them??

Telecom or any other communication company or anybody that provide services must abide the privacy law. Even landline -- you can ask is it secure??

For somebody to hack into text messages or mobile networks they must have Millions of dollars to tap into these sort of communications and more importantly time - probably it will take them like hundred of years to crack and if it even so, the telecommunication companies will probably change their network or upgrade to a higher end network -- as you have seen every 3-5 years....

i would say there would be some form of encryption in text messages if not people will read other people text messages easily

Commodore

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#258229 25-Sep-2009 05:09

yea but look at what happens to the cdma network it was very easy to capture someone else's text messages they never fixed it it's still working today on the old cdma network. you would of thought they would of tested that. and im pretty sure u could listen to the old tdma network with a scanner

sbiddle

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#258236 25-Sep-2009 06:42

WCDMA security is very good. Nobody in the general public can overhear or intercept your calls. It isn't immune from court interception orders however and if you have done something illegal your calls can be legally monitored.

If you want guaranteed security your only way is to use a device surrorting your own encryption such as a Secure Phone. Unfortunately one of these won't work on XT as the network offers no CSD option for data.