PTA busts unauthorised gateway exchange
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Tee Emm
May 27, 2008, 1:07:45 AM5/27/08
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This is from a forwarded email I have received today. The source is not mentioned but from the HTML format, it looks like it is The News. This newsitem has its origin in the tapping equipment that has been placed by PTA across all international links of TW, Multinet and PTCL to check grey telephony.
It would be interesting to know insights from other members here on whether the same system could be used to inspect 'other details' on the traffic passing thru the network besides rouge commercial voice telephony which is the main stated use of the new system.
-T
It would be interesting to know insights from other members here on whether the same system could be used to inspect 'other details' on the traffic passing thru the network besides rouge commercial voice telephony which is the main stated use of the new system.
-T
PTA busts unauthorised gateway exchange
Tuesday, May 27, 2008
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) and Federal Investigation Agency (FIA), in a joint venture, busted an illegal international gateway exchange established in a residential area of Karachi on Monday.
In pursuance of their efforts against grey telephony, a combined team of PTA and FIA raided an illegal gateway exchange working in a residential area of Karachi. The felonious setup was detected through the Technical Facility recently installed by PTA, to monitor illegal business of telecom across the country.
This was the first illegal operation detected through this state-of-the-art facility made operational on May 1. Upon investigation and confirmation, a successful raid was conducted at a residential bungalow in Defense Housing Authority (DHA), Karachi, and an operational international gateway exchange was seized.
The setup was using 130 Mbps bandwidth for international connectivity, while hundreds of GSM SIMs were being used for local call termination. The confiscated equipment included 6 Quantum Voice-over Internet Protocol (VoIP) gateways, with 24 ports each, and a rack of Telular devices along with other accessories.
It is estimated that the setup has caused revenue loss worth Rs25 million in last 10 months of operations. Further investigations are underway by the FIA and it is expected that allied setups would also be unearthed shortly.
It may be mentioned that PTA has acquired a Technical Solution for addressing the menace of grey traffic brought into the country through illegal means in September 2007. It is a proven solution, which is currently being used by various telecom operators across the globe.
The list includes AT&T, Telecom Egypt, Saudi Telecom and Brazil Telecom, to name a few.
Grey telephony is a term referred to the illegal telecom traffic, in which calls from foreign countries are brought in the country as local calls while using illegal means, which is an offence under the Telecom Reorganisation Act 1996.
Tuesday, May 27, 2008
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) and Federal Investigation Agency (FIA), in a joint venture, busted an illegal international gateway exchange established in a residential area of Karachi on Monday.
In pursuance of their efforts against grey telephony, a combined team of PTA and FIA raided an illegal gateway exchange working in a residential area of Karachi. The felonious setup was detected through the Technical Facility recently installed by PTA, to monitor illegal business of telecom across the country.
This was the first illegal operation detected through this state-of-the-art facility made operational on May 1. Upon investigation and confirmation, a successful raid was conducted at a residential bungalow in Defense Housing Authority (DHA), Karachi, and an operational international gateway exchange was seized.
The setup was using 130 Mbps bandwidth for international connectivity, while hundreds of GSM SIMs were being used for local call termination. The confiscated equipment included 6 Quantum Voice-over Internet Protocol (VoIP) gateways, with 24 ports each, and a rack of Telular devices along with other accessories.
It is estimated that the setup has caused revenue loss worth Rs25 million in last 10 months of operations. Further investigations are underway by the FIA and it is expected that allied setups would also be unearthed shortly.
It may be mentioned that PTA has acquired a Technical Solution for addressing the menace of grey traffic brought into the country through illegal means in September 2007. It is a proven solution, which is currently being used by various telecom operators across the globe.
The list includes AT&T, Telecom Egypt, Saudi Telecom and Brazil Telecom, to name a few.
Grey telephony is a term referred to the illegal telecom traffic, in which calls from foreign countries are brought in the country as local calls while using illegal means, which is an offence under the Telecom Reorganisation Act 1996.
Adnan Sadiq
May 27, 2008, 1:42:18 AM5/27/08
to telecom-gr...@googlegroups.com
http://www.thenews.com.pk/daily_detail.asp?id=114932--
A bus station is where a bus stops. A train station is where a train stops. On my desk, I have a work station. Ah, now I see the problem...
(:
Adnan Mohyuddin Sadiq
Skype: adnansadiq
A bus station is where a bus stops. A train station is where a train stops. On my desk, I have a work station. Ah, now I see the problem...
(:
Adnan Mohyuddin Sadiq
Skype: adnansadiq
Wasim Baig
May 27, 2008, 1:44:47 AM5/27/08
to telecom-gr...@googlegroups.com
Good ol' naurus get its first victim ...http://www.narus.com/products/trafficManagement.html
maybe someone with more insight (pun intended) confirm whether just the pattern detection bits inplace or also the reconstruction bits ...
130 mbps? good enough for (rough back of the envelope calculation) 5000+ SIP/G729 calls, quite an overkill for a 6x24 = 144 ports ...
4mbps would be more than plenty, a lot less if using IAX or cRTP ...
With PTA/FIA apparently going after the big boys, its not going to take long for people to shift to multiple smaller (4-8 port setups) to fall under the radar.
-wasim
--
wasim h. baig | principal consultant | convergence pk | +92 300 8508070
maybe someone with more insight (pun intended) confirm whether just the pattern detection bits inplace or also the reconstruction bits ...
130 mbps? good enough for (rough back of the envelope calculation) 5000+ SIP/G729 calls, quite an overkill for a 6x24 = 144 ports ...
4mbps would be more than plenty, a lot less if using IAX or cRTP ...
With PTA/FIA apparently going after the big boys, its not going to take long for people to shift to multiple smaller (4-8 port setups) to fall under the radar.
-wasim
On Tue, May 27, 2008 at 10:07 AM, Tee Emm <tariq....@gmail.com> wrote:
--
wasim h. baig | principal consultant | convergence pk | +92 300 8508070
Tee Emm
May 27, 2008, 2:09:36 AM5/27/08
to telecom-gr...@googlegroups.com
I also feel that somehow this was part of a media campaign apparently aimed at creating terror waves amongst the grey operators though I personally think that such crowd is least likely to be intimidated by such possibilities and they usually do their 'homework' well in advance.
-T
-T
Ashar
May 27, 2008, 2:08:39 AM5/27/08
to Tee Emm, telecom-gr...@googlegroups.com
130 Mbps to a residential place? Do ISPs have to report suspicious customers?
Ashar
Faisal Khan
May 27, 2008, 3:55:00 AM5/27/08
to telecom-gr...@googlegroups.com
The license of the Narus equipment that PTA has - can allow reconstruction of VoIP and for the moment, not IP (Web/HTML, Email, FTP)traffic. Narus has a 3rd-party SSL opener, one that Narus does not advocate, but there are 3rd party solutions to open SSL traffic, but PTA doesn't have that yet (emphasis on yet!)
Ashar
May 27, 2008, 4:41:15 AM5/27/08
to telecom-gr...@googlegroups.com
Pakistan package: 5000 minutes = Rs200
Thats about Paisa 4 per minute for long distance calls.
Local call Rs1 per minute (approx)
Callback business opportunity?
:-)
Ashar
--
Show me a sane man and I will cure him for you.
-- C.G. Jung
On Tuesday 27 May 2008 10:07:45 you wrote:
Rehan Allah Wala
May 27, 2008, 6:51:11 PM5/27/08
to telecom-gr...@googlegroups.com
The only thing the naurus box checks is for SIP packets.
They have the same installed in uae for 1+ years now and for example skype has started to
work again on it.
Yahoo works again
Msn works again
Google talk works
IAx2 protocol that asterisk uses works fine.
The only thing that does not work is the pure sip on port 5060
How is that worth spending a couple of million should be asked by the people who sold it to
them and make commisions on them.
So SSL or vpn far aside, this particular box does not even blocks most of the sip traffic even.
The whole thing is a sham to me, the raising of the price to 10 cent is like inviting people to
DO illegal termination, 130mbps? Which dodo brain needs a naurus to check that out?
Rehan Ahmed AllahWala
Msn/Yahoo/GoogleTalk/Email: Re...@Rehan.com
http://www.supertec.com/ - Internet Telephony Solutions
Http://www.DIDX.net - DID Number Market Place.
Don't Remember Me ? Visit http://www.Rehan.com
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