Re: [rtcweb] Identity and PSTN gateways

[Roman Shpount <[e-mail]>]

On Tue, Apr 3, 2012 at 9:05 AM, Olle E. Johansson <[e-mail]> wrote:

>
> Now we will have to separate "PSTN-emulating" gateways that accept calls
> to all phone numbers but play a prompt saying "You gotta be kidding me -
> calling a phone number?" from REAL gateways that have a connection to the
> PSTN world.
>
> Will guys connecting with SS7 have a certificate signed by the ITU as a
> "TRUE" PSTN provider and the voip guy in the basement next door just have a
> "Best effort fourth-tier PSTN service" certificate?
>
> I think that any identity of any PSTN gateway just identifies the gateway
> as a server. Not as a service.
>
> I agree with you that you can only identify the gateway. Above this, I
think the whole discussion is pointless since there are no security
guarantees within PSTN. A million of people can be listening in. You can be
connected to a completely different number then the one you've dialed due
to LNP, call routing rules, call forwarding, or anything else. If you are
dialing internationally your traffic often goes over unsecured public
internet. So far, 99.999% of all phone calls were unsecured, tapped into,
recorded and listen by anybody who possessed even the moderate desire to do
so. If you start talking about calls coming from PSTN, you have even less
guarantees about accuracy of the caller ID information. You are currently
trying to secure the edge and provide identity on top of this mess.
_____________
Roman Shpount