Is phone phreaking dead? - Page 1
Forum section: electronics / general

author: farmerni
author_rank: Newbie
timestamp: March 31, 2018, 03:26:41 pm
content: Been reading the old issues of YIPL and TAP and was wondering if that scene was completely deadAlso, with Alexa and what not, could we make a VOIP setup which we could use to relive the good old days. I know that there is something to this extent (search 'arduino blue box' and you'll find it after passing through a few links') , but alexa could pretend to be the operator and a really big network could be run off one modern server. I like the idea of getting an old phone box in my garden and setting it up like that.

author: JTY
author_rank: Newbie
timestamp: March 31, 2018, 03:46:11 pm
content: Phone phreaking in the traditional sense is dead, since in-band signaling is dead. But, there are certainly folks messing about with SIP and other VoIP protocols looking for weaknesses in implementations and configuration.

author: bd139
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: March 31, 2018, 04:20:41 pm
content: No one is hanging around the payphones at Tower Records in London any more for certainNearly got myself into trouble a couple of times in 90sI'm sure it's still alive but there is legitimised lower hanging fruit now that pays cash (pen testing etc) so the motivation isn't there. Last thing that was of interest to me was voicemail hacking.

author: dmills
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: March 31, 2018, 04:34:47 pm
content: It is possible to gain access to the SS7 network, commands are not entirely intuitive but that thing is an old school phone freaks wet dream.Scary what you can do with some scripting and a 64kb connection to SS7 if you can convince your peers that you are a phone company (SS7 peering is a matter of faxed agreements and people manually configuring switches! Social engineering applies).Regards, Dan.

author: bd139
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: March 31, 2018, 04:45:13 pm
content: Completely wrongly, I'd assumed they'd replaced that turd by now!

author: chickenHeadKnob
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: March 31, 2018, 04:48:40 pm
content: Quote from: dmills on March 31, 2018, 04:34:47 pmWhen I first heard about CALEA features and other backdoor provisioning built in to ss7 I said to myself "this can't be the way they designed it"

author: dmills
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: March 31, 2018, 05:22:55 pm
content: It is not so much that kind of blatant spy tools stuff that is interesting as the fact that even when they tried to secure bits of it, they mostly fluffed it.A few years back the CCC seemed to decide that SS7 was going to be a congress theme, some scary videos are on line.Thing is, I very much doubt that a future IP based replacement will actually be any better.Regards, Dan.

author: Red Squirrel
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: March 31, 2018, 10:07:45 pm
content: There's a certain form that still occurs, usually voice mail and PBXes that have a vulnerability that allow to gain an outside line when you call the number. From there, long distance calls can be made using that company's service so you don't have to pay. I work for the phone company and occasionally get notices where I need to go in an disable long distance for a customer to stop the fraud from happening. I'm always kinda curious what is the nature of the calls as they tend to be in very short spurts. I think it's used to transfer quick bits of info and probably bot driven.

author: German_EE
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: April 02, 2018, 08:23:52 am
content: The old form of telephone hacking using various tones is dead because now it's all digital switching. However, there are plenty of insecure (or even unsecured) PABX systems out there, so there are possibilities should you choose to make use of them.