VPN question

[Jim W Lai]

On Sat, 20 Dec 2003, Justin Zygmont wrote:
> On Sat, 20 Dec 2003, James Knott wrote:
> > Why do you think a phone line has no chance of interception?  Phone 
> > lines have been tapped for years.  It is very easy to do, if you know how.
> 
> to intercept data transmission?  I don't think so.  I never heard of that 
> happening.

It's been done.
http://zdnet.com.com/2100-11-501418.html?legacy=zdnn 

 By John Simons
 The Wall Street Journal Online
 September 30, 1999, 5:00 PM PT

 Morris and technicians at the FBI's engineering lab in Quantico, Va.,
 worked together to draft the specifications for the device Morris
 wanted. It would need to do the reverse of what a computer's modem
 does. A modem takes digital data from a computer and translates
 it to analog signals that can be sent via phone lines. Morris's
 device would intercept the analog signals on Cantrell's phone line
 and convert those impulses back to digital signals so the FBI's
 computers could capture and record each of a suspect's keystrokes."

I snipped only the relevant paragraph under fair use.  The prototype
unit cost U$70K in 1994.  With Moore's Law, I'm sure the cost has gone
way down.

Jim

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