decal's security shed


phone phreaking


Contrary to widespread misconception, phreaking is not dead (and never was!) There's been an explosion in PCS, smart-phones and both commercial as well as open-source VoIP software and services. Phone Phreaking is the hobbyist exploration of telephony-based technology (not necessarily "ripping off the phone company" as is often misconstrued by mainstream literature, although there are plenty of legal and illegal ways to save money on long distance fees, international rates, etc.) My recent telephonic tinkering has been centered around open-source VoIP software like the Asterisk PBX, FreeSWITCH, FreePBX, OpenSIPS, and others.. My modern telephony interest areas are enumerated below:

  1. Configuring soft-PBXen and/or soft-phones with free SIP termination points like: SIPBroker.com

  2. Setting up DID numbers to make VoIP PBXes and other services accessible from the PSTN with another free service: IPKall.com

  3. Tweaking all-in-one print/copy/scan/fax appliances to send TIFF fascimile images over voice codecs (a.k.a. "vo-coders") since faxing with SS7 on copper land-lines isn't as prevalent anymore.

  4. Writing dial-plans that assign various destinations to extensions including: voicemail, a conference bridge, AGI-BIN scripts, VXML based IVR systems, associated DTMF menus, etc.

  5. Synthesizing language from text using festival, a TTS tool which has a Scheme API as part of the Carnegie-Mellon University speech technology research in their comp.sci department.

  6. Creating/improving automated announcement quality, sound effects, and other telephony audio messages with the Audacity GUI, "A free multi-track audio editor and recorder" or the CLI mencoder (MPlayer's media encoder) which supports three important formats with respect to SIP voice stream encoding: PCM, MP3 & VBRMP3

  7. Observing the idiosyncrasies between different carriers' networks by diverting from local equipment with CAC's like 10-10-288-0 which AT&T® Long Distance marketed so well in the 1990's (similar to 1-800-CALL-ATT)

  8. Installing custom firmware on ATA devices which allow normal home telephones to use VoIP by attaching UTP cord's usual 6P2C connector to one of possibly multiple RJ-11 interfaces on the ATA's PCB. Most often, ATA's have an Ethernet interface which will connect to an Internetworking device such as a router/switch/etc. for VoIP access via SIP or another protocol like IAX

  9. Researching the ITU-T E.164 number space recommendation as it becomes a sort of phone book via "ENUM" DNS records in the special TLD e164.arpa for the purpose of resolving an E.164 address to a SIP URI with DNS resource records of the NAPTR type and IN class.

  10. Watching for secure alternatives to initial VoIP protocol insecurities, i.e. SRTP proposed to the IETF by Cisco Systems, Inc. in RFC3711

  11. Using VoIP adaptations for HAM radio to link repeater stations, i.e. EchoLink and All Star Link--in contrast to making phone calls through a repeater with the older autopatch feature


[John Draper a.k.a. Captain Crunch and decal @ DefCon 20 in Las Vegas]
crunch and decal

John Draper, a.k.a. Captain Crunch (left) and myself at DefCon 20




Text Files


Country Codes for International Dialing (includes GTMO)

ISO 639/Joint Advisory Committee Language Codes (from the Library of Congress)

Area Codes by NANPA (North American Numbering Plan Association)

North American Postal Region Codes (State/Province/Territory/etc)

United States ZIP Code Prefixes (By Geographical Location)


Documents & Other Resources


Telecom Glossary

Verizon New York Field Operations Manual

Hayes Modem "AT" (Attention) Commands

511 SF BAY

Wikipedia Telephone Numbers Category

Wikipedia ITU-T Recommendations Category

Wikipedia Teletraffic Category

Braess' Paradox Article on Wikipedia

Postal Addressing Systems

LNP/LRN Live Demo

Send an anonymous SMS text message

OpenCNAM Web API

Everyone API

Administrative Divisions of Countries "Statoids"

Signaling System No. 7 (SS7/C7): Protocol, Architecture, and Services

Telcordia Routing Administration Related Web Sites

North American Numbering Plan

Canadian Numbering Administrator

International Telecommunications Union

REST APIs let you build Voice and SMS applications or integrate them to your web or mobile application

SIGTRAN Working Group at IETF

International Inbound Services Forum

Telecommunications Reference Index

TELECOM Digest & Archives

El Jefe's Payphone Directory

Default Radio

Country Codes

World Telephone Number Guide

Bell's Mind Blog

Bell's Mind on the Wayback Machine

Binary Revolution Old Skool Phreaking Forum

The PLA: Phone Losers of America

PhreakVids.com - Videos Related to Phreaking

Ohio Phreaks - Keepin' phreakin' alive in Ohio

Social-Engineer.Org : Security Through Education

Fake Name Generator

Cell Phone Unlocking Company

Toll Free Directory Assistance Web Site

Excellent Telecom Products/Training Catalog ..With CO Search!!

SBC Test Line Look-Up Site

Description of Test Lines

Whitepages PRO Developer Documentation & API Overview (quite organized!)

areacodelocations.info

Area codes in Mexico by code

Free reverse phone number lookup database created by user submissions

AT&T Prime Access

AT&T CLEC Online Many unique resources, e.g. test line info!

AT&T Access Codes

AT&T Wireless Coverage Map

anywho.com: Finding people, places, and business ...

AT&T's International Dialing Guide

AT&T's International Mobile Terminating Number Information

VSC's (Vertical Service Codes) .. were developed by AT&T Corporation as CLASS (sometimes LASS codes): Custom Local Area Signaling Services

Microsoft Safety & Security Center: Avoid tech support phone scams

TeleTruth Alliance for Customers' Telecommunications Rights

Telecommunications Industry Association

USABook => Cell Site Simulators

Ofcom's Complete Nuisance Calls and Messages Guide

Map of probable Internet network interception

Screenshot of CLID Program While Backspoofing from whitehouse.gov


VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol)


voip-info.org - an extremely comprehensive Wiki for Voice over IP material

Secure Asterisk

A resource for packet-switched conversational protocols

Technical Information Guide (from) Conferencing Advisors, Inc.

Asterisk: The Definitive Guide published by O'Reilly Associates

SIPBroker Improve your SIP telephone experience!

Estimated global VoIP calling rates

Voip and 911 service information from the United States Federal Communications Commission

OpenVoice | Citrix© GoToMeeting Free


Cellular Communications


Mobile Phone Industry in the United States @ Wikipedia

VCC Call Flow Diagram

Open source mobile communications

3GPP: LTE-Advanced

openmobilealliance.org

European Telecommunications Standards Institute

Decrypting GSM phone calls

Cell Phone Unlocking Company

Global System for Mobile Communications Association

WWAN_DEVICE_CAPS structure   For GSM-based devices, only GSM-based data-classes must be specified. For example, GPRS, EDGE, UMTS, HSDPA, LTE, and TD-SCDMA. If your miniport driver supports TD-SCDMA, then it should specify WWAN_DATA_CLASS_CUSTOM in the WwanDataClass member and the string "TD-SCDMA" in the CustomDataClass member. For CDMA-based devices, only CDMA-related data services must be specified. For example, 1xRTT, 1xEV-DO, 1xEV-DO RevA, and UMB. 1xEV-DO RevB is defined for future use. 1xEV-DV and 3xRTT are also defined for completeness.


Historical Archive


Tweet from @todayininfosec about how the etymology of the word "hacker" was actually the result of phreaking!


The Neophyte's Guide to Hacking
(classic article--all about the basics)

Pacific Bell fax message about some telecommunications fraud busts from August 3rd, 1987

Phone Trips

The History of AT&T

C*NET => Collectors' Net  


Public Listings Released by RBOC's


Ericsson's USPTO Patent: Internet of Things Lawful Interception

[American Telephone and Telegraph] [Verizon Communications]               [The Yellow Pages: let your fingers do the walking..]

Dex Media: SMS Text Marketing

IP via Satellite: Key Technical Features


RESPORG's


legacy.800forall.com

www.tollfreenumbers.com




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