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The Telecom Digest for Sat, 31 Jul 2021
Volume 40 : Issue 212 : "text" format

table of contents
Re: Minor outage of CenturyLink
Private Israeli spyware used to hack cellphones of journalists, activists worldwide
Re: Private Israeli spyware used to hack cellphones of journalists, activists worldwide
US hits anti-robocall milestone but annoying calls won't stop any time soon

Message-ID: <YQMkc2qXVm/dKWDO@themcintyres.us> Date: 29 Jul 2021 16:58:11 -0500 From: "Doug McIntyre" <merlyn@themcintyres.us> Subject: Re: Minor outage of CenturyLink In comp.dcom.telecom, Modertor wrote: >Here's a different kind of story: the site I just looked at shows >statistical information about what the author characterizes as a >"Minor outage," in Duluth, Saint Paul, and Minneapolis, Minnesota. >Please take a look at the URL, and fill in the blanks: what happened? >What services were affected? What caused the problem? ... https://app.fing.com/internet/outage/DROP:US-Minnesota--CenturyLink@2021-07-27-0100-00000 Since I'm in Minnesota, and run an ISP..et.al.. This looks to be a questionable measure of Internet Access service provider's throughput. I'm quite puzzled as to why USInternet (a mostly private fiber based access provider) had the same exact outage times as CenturyLink (probably doing ADSL services). When I know USInternet doesn't depend on CenturyLink's infrastructure. I don't think they reach to Duluth or Eden Prairie or Cloquet either. So, we'll just say that they may have some overlap in their data. Otherwise, I'm going to guess that this data is obtained via some agent on consumer computer's connected to the Internet pinging the services central point. There's way more ISPs in Minnesota than three cable-cos and one telco, and one private fiber provider. But anyway, I'd guess this is purely "pings" over the Internet, and not surprisingly enough all vendors have about the same level of "outages" reported. I wouldn't put much faith in this. Or the Internet in general to always deliver every packet put into it. -- Doug McIntyre doug@themcintyres.us
Message-ID: <B4689BBB-E354-49C9-81F5-19D5AED34E3F@roscom.com> Date: 30 Jul 2021 11:21:19 -0400 From: "Monty Solomon" <monty@roscom.com> Subject: Private Israeli spyware used to hack cellphones of journalists, activists worldwide Private Israeli spyware used to hack cellphones of journalists, activists worldwide Military-grade spyware licensed by an Israeli firm to governments for tracking terrorists and criminals was used in attempted and successful hacks of 37 smartphones belonging to journalists, human rights activists, business executives and two women close to murdered Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi, according to an investigation by The Washington Post and 16 media partners. https://www.washingtonpost.com/investigations/interactive/2021/nso-spyware-pegasus-cellphones/
Message-ID: <5458C184-B8AC-4611-A8FE-F84929793FC2@roscom.com> Date: 30 Jul 2021 11:23:19 -0400 From: "Monty Solomon" <monty@roscom.com> Subject: Re: Private Israeli spyware used to hack cellphones of journalists, activists worldwide Jamal Khashoggi's wife targeted with spyware before his death https://www.washingtonpost.com/investigations/interactive/2021/jamal-khashoggi-wife-fiancee-cellphone-hack/ How Pegasus works, who is most vulnerable and why it's hard to protect yourself https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2021/07/18/what-to-know-spyware-pegasus/ In Hungary, spyware was used to monitor those who may challenge government https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2021/07/18/hungary-orban-spyware/ Why The Post joined news organizations across the globe to bring you this investigation https://www.washingtonpost.com/investigations/2021/07/18/letter-executive-editor-pegasus-project/ Takeaways from the Pegasus Project https://www.washingtonpost.com/investigations/2021/07/18/takeaways-nso-pegasus-project/
Message-ID: <74445FC5-404A-4EBA-96DB-EB2B92F313E2@roscom.com> Date: From: "Monty Solomon" <monty@roscom.com> Subject: US hits anti-robocall milestone but annoying calls won't stop any time soon The nation's largest phone companies have met a federal deadline to deploy a new anti-robocall technology, but unwanted calls and scams will continue to be an annoying problem for Americans for the foreseeable future. Federal Communications Commission Acting Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel announced Wednesday that "the largest voice service providers are now using STIR/SHAKEN caller ID authentication standards in their IP networks, in accordance with the [June 30] deadline set by the FCC. This widespread implementation helps protect consumers against malicious spoofed robocalls and helps law enforcement track bad actors." https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2021/07/us-hits-anti-robocall-milestone-but-annoying-calls-wont-stop-any-time-soon/

End of telecom Digest Sat, 31 Jul 2021

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