June 11, 2010 at 22:52Confidentiality in communication networks
A landline phone came into my life as a means of communication around 1994 (before that I simply didn’t have it), and now I (and many others) can’t imagine my life without talking on a cell phone and over the Internet. It is always very convenient to be in touch, you can always contact a person, find out his opinion on some issue, coordinate actions, share impressions. But not everything is as beautiful as it seems at first glance.
So there were circumstances that I witnessed a situation in which a person suffered from a violation of the confidentiality of his personal communication through means of communication. In particular, via SMS and the Internet (mail, IM). If everything is clear with the Internet, there are a lot of hackers there, you need to worry about your protection yourself, then I first encountered a violation of the confidentiality of personal communication via SMS. My topic is about protecting the rights of subscribers of telecom operators on the confidentiality of communication.
In the situation that I encountered, the object of attention of the attackers is far from IT, information security and is not even an “advanced” PC user. But understanding that everyone can be in this situation, I understand that I can somehow protect my communication over the Internet (VPN, SSL, PGP, etc), then what about mobile communications? The subscriber, no matter how advanced he is, has extremely limited means of protection, and the use of many of them ( audio encoders , for example) is prohibited by law and, according to experts, is monitored by the relevant services.
I can only speculate on how the confidentiality of conversations is violated - broadcast monitoring or unauthorized use of SORM systems. In this situation, it is known that the interest of the ill-wisher is not related to legal issues or commercial activities (its manifestations speak clearly about this). The situation I am talking about was most likely the result of a combination of circumstances, but if someone could so easily intercept personal conversations, then making it a fraud or blackmail tool is as simple as that. And alright, even the confidentiality of conversations would be violated by law enforcement agencies (they have such work), but private individuals do it.
The question that remains open for me is how to protect my privacy rights through communication networks. How to find an attacker in case of violation of these rights? What are the legal aspects of this issue? What is the responsibility of the carrier for violating confidentiality? How to prove to the operator or the relevant authority that such a fact takes place? I have great doubts that, for example, an SMS received from a detractor will be material (?) Evidence of a violation of confidentiality.
And the most interesting. If this is the case now, then what should we expect in 5 years?
UPDATE: If it’s rude, then the facts of confidentiality violation were of this nature - There are people of the same circle of friends: Alice, Bob, Charlie. Alice sends SMS to Bob, after which Charlie receives this SMS with comments from an unknown Dave (pride). Such an action is not in the interests of any of the first three persons, which excludes their participation.
So there were circumstances that I witnessed a situation in which a person suffered from a violation of the confidentiality of his personal communication through means of communication. In particular, via SMS and the Internet (mail, IM). If everything is clear with the Internet, there are a lot of hackers there, you need to worry about your protection yourself, then I first encountered a violation of the confidentiality of personal communication via SMS. My topic is about protecting the rights of subscribers of telecom operators on the confidentiality of communication.
In the situation that I encountered, the object of attention of the attackers is far from IT, information security and is not even an “advanced” PC user. But understanding that everyone can be in this situation, I understand that I can somehow protect my communication over the Internet (VPN, SSL, PGP, etc), then what about mobile communications? The subscriber, no matter how advanced he is, has extremely limited means of protection, and the use of many of them ( audio encoders , for example) is prohibited by law and, according to experts, is monitored by the relevant services.
I can only speculate on how the confidentiality of conversations is violated - broadcast monitoring or unauthorized use of SORM systems. In this situation, it is known that the interest of the ill-wisher is not related to legal issues or commercial activities (its manifestations speak clearly about this). The situation I am talking about was most likely the result of a combination of circumstances, but if someone could so easily intercept personal conversations, then making it a fraud or blackmail tool is as simple as that. And alright, even the confidentiality of conversations would be violated by law enforcement agencies (they have such work), but private individuals do it.
The question that remains open for me is how to protect my privacy rights through communication networks. How to find an attacker in case of violation of these rights? What are the legal aspects of this issue? What is the responsibility of the carrier for violating confidentiality? How to prove to the operator or the relevant authority that such a fact takes place? I have great doubts that, for example, an SMS received from a detractor will be material (?) Evidence of a violation of confidentiality.
And the most interesting. If this is the case now, then what should we expect in 5 years?
UPDATE: If it’s rude, then the facts of confidentiality violation were of this nature - There are people of the same circle of friends: Alice, Bob, Charlie. Alice sends SMS to Bob, after which Charlie receives this SMS with comments from an unknown Dave (pride). Such an action is not in the interests of any of the first three persons, which excludes their participation.