FCC Requires Certain Broadband and VoIP Providers to Accommodate Wiretaps.

Washington, D.C. – Responding to a petition from the Department of Justice, the Federal
Bureau of Investigation, and the Drug Enforcement Agency, the Commission determined that providers of certain broadband and interconnected voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) services must be prepared to accommodate law enforcement wiretaps, the Federal Communications Commission ruled today.
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News Release (8/5/05): Word | Acrobat

VOIP will be next hacker targetsays Symantec

The biannual Symantec Threat Report identified Voice over IP (Voip) systems as a technology starting to interest hi-tech criminals.

The report predicted that within 18 months, Voip will start to be used as a "significant" attack vector. As well as prompting new attacks, Voip could also resurrect some old hacking techniques, warned the report.
It is estimated that over the next 12 to 18 months VoIP will be receiving a "significant" number of attacks. It is feared that security threats will include voice phishing, in which customers are convinced to give away personal information, audio spasm that block voicemail boxes, denial of service (DoS) attacks and call hi-jacking that re-directs calls to criminals.
Ollie Whitehouse, researcher for Symantec Research Labs warned: "While there are currently very few reported attacks directed at Voip systems, Symantec believes it's only a matter of time before attackers target it more intensely, as this new communication technology gains widespread acceptance and deployment." Presently there are 52 million users of Skype VoIP alone, which is predicted to grow to 160 million by the end of next year. track

E-911 Capabilites with V-911 (press Release)

Solution Supports Carriers Plans to Comply with FCC VoIP E9-1-1 Mandate

“The FCC’s proposed rulemaking makes it pretty clear; if you want to offer Internet telephone service, you need to make sure your subscribers have access to the dedicated wireline 9-1-1 network,” said William Stofega, Research Manager with IDC’s Voice Over Internet Protocol (VOIP) Services Program. “For any wireless carrier considering making the move into VoIP, solutions like Intrado’s are worth investigating.”

More Katrina Links

Online coverage of Hurricane Katrina

This is a site featuring news and links to activities in Austin, Texas, that are meant to help the survivors of Hurricane Katrina.

Here is an up to date list of current open homes on our website in alphabetic order by state. This list will stay updated as warranted.

This is a housing services hub for Katrina victims. You can offer up housing space for victims, or hurricane survivors can search for available rooms/houses/apts/etc. This site is working in cooperation with support organizations.

This site is designed to help friends and family communicate with loved ones lost or missing from Hurricane Katrina by posting messages for one another during the aftermath of this terrible tragedy. Messages are sorted by the last and first name of the person impacted by Hurricane Katrina.

Linux And Windows tested again! over TCO

Two research reports sponsored by IBM argue that Linux is less expensive to buy and operate than Windows or Unix.
Robert Frances Group study, titled "TCO For Application Servers: Comparing Linux With Windows And Solaris" and commissioned by IBM, compared the cost of acquiring, implementing, and running an application server on Linux, Windows, and Sun Solaris, it found that Linux is 40% less expensive than a comparable x86-based Windows server and 54% less than a comparable Sparc-based Solaris server. The Linux server's costs were $40,149, compared with $67,559 for Windows and $86,478 for Solaris.
Pund-IT's conclusions are based on lengthy research with three companies: Alliance UniChem, Boscov’s Department Stores, and Zahid Tractor & Heavy Machinery. Alliance UniChem CZ s.r.o. is part of Alliance UniChem plc., Europe’s second-largest pharmaceutical wholesaler, its third-largest pharmaceutical retailer, and the fifth-largest international player in its industry. The company began its SuSE Linux deployment in 2002 with a data warehouse and logistics system project designed to replace the existing Windows-on-Intel infrastructure.

Boscov's, headquartered in Reading, Pa., and operating more than 40 department stores and outlets in five Eastern states, claims to have saved more than $2 million since its first Linux deployment on an IBM zSeries z900 server in 2001. Zahid Tractor, based in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, is a supplier of heavy and industrial equipment used in construction, manufacturing, shipping, the oil industry, ports, airports, steel works, and transportation that began its Windows-to-Linux migration in 2002 as part of an open-source strategy to improve IT flexibility, reliability, and security, the Pund-IT report says