Re: Phone Switches + telephone banking etc

["digitalFX" <xfarrell () ddisp net>]

Cordless phones are a risk themselves for anything you don't know want
anyone else to know about.  The old original cordless phones are not that
powerful, but many of the 900Mhz phones that are out there and still widely
used, can be picked up from blocks away with nothing but a scanner you can
buy from Radio Shack.  I don't know about you, but all my banking is done on
a hard wired phone.  Better to be safe than sorry.



----- Original Message -----

> "Kayne Ian (Softlab)" wrote:
> > ->
> >
> > > I know many banks ( at least in the UK) will say not to use their
> > > service through cordless phones, maybe they should increase to include
> >
> > Why's that? I've never heard of a bank making that statement. A cordless
> > phone is pretty much a minor risk anyway, if someone wanted to go to the
> > trouble of listening in to your call to the bank, they'd be better off
> > splicing the phone line outside your house. IIRC DECT fones are
scrambled in
> > some way, so you can't just tune in with a reciever. Non-DECT fones have
> > enough trouble finding the base station and making a clear call through
even
> > paper thin walls, so someone sitting outside your house is unlikely to
get
> > anything through a few layers of concrete...
>
> if you phone HSBC in the UK and ask to change your "security number"
> they will ask you if you are on a cordless phone or a mobile. Remember
> the "old" cordless phones that could be eaves dropped accidentally ? (
> or with a scanner from maplins )
>
> Now DECT phones are all the rage I suppose the question is irrelevant (
> also GSM mobiles are supposedly encrypted anyway)
>
> I just phoned HSBC's telephone banking division and their policy is that
> "you should not use cordless or mobile phones when setting or resetting
> security features" though they couldn't tell me where to find a doc on
> this.
>
> My original take on this issue was merely that the key press records are
> a hell of a load more sensitive than people believe.
>
> Q
>
> --
> #####################
> Quentyn Taylor
> Sysadmin - Fotango
> #####################
> "With hindsight, the decision sucked. But that's the benefit of
> hindsight. When you use it, all decisions suck."
>    Giles Todd