Voice over IP has been a technology that has quickly moved mainstream for its clarity and cost. So, as VoIP continues to grow, there will obviously be parties out there who will want to have secure communication sessions, and therefore develop encryption mechanisms for their PC conversations. Well, encrypting these sessions has been proven to be stong enough to the point where investigators are having troubles deciphering the conversations. So what’s the remedy? A trojan…

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Whilst listening in on normal telephone calls over landlines or mobile phone networks has become a routine procedure, Voice over IP connections frequently present a problem for investigators, especially when the persons being monitored use Skype via foreign servers or call direct from PC to PC and encrypt their data. The Swiss Department of the Environment, Transport, Energy and Communications (UVEK) is therefore examining the use of spy software to allow it to listen in on conversations on PCs.

The software comes from Swiss security company ERA IT Solutions, which intends to supply it solely to investigation agencies. This should also prevent antivirus manufacturers from incorporating it into their databases and having their tools recognise it. According to the manufacturer, firewalls do not present a problem.

Installation of the software wiretap is to be carried out on the instructions of a judge only. The ISPs of the persons under investigation will then slip the program onto their computers. The program will save overheard conversations and send them to a server in small, inconspicuous packets. If the computer is turned off before all the data has been transmitted, the program will continue transmission when it is restarted.”

Read the rest of this article HERE.

It’s bizarre to think that trojans will be used to tap into VoIP sessions, but it seems that will be the case. We just hope that these trojans will not end up in the wrong hands…which is something we sadly doubt.

Tags: Computer Protection