VoIP laying waste to spies' phonetapping strategies
The BBC’s Spooks TV drama isn’t realistic. There, I’ve said it. Why not? Well, you never see an investigation where the team sit around their computer lab weeping because a suspect’s using Skype rather than a fixed line or mobile phone.
See, the growing popularity of VoIP is posing problems for real-life spies, judging by the UK security services’ latest Intelligence and Security oversight report: “One of the greatest challenges for GCHQ is to maintain its intercept capability in the face of rapidly evolving communications technology,” the report says. “This relates in particular to the growth in internet-based communications and voice over internet telephony.”
Of course, the security services spend much of their time now trying to head off terrorism, and phonetapping plays a big part in that. No wonder they’re worried. Perhaps they’ll have to try to refocus their energies onto bugging the actual laptops and/or PCs of suspects…
(via PC Pro)
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