Encrypted communications with phone and PC

[nowhere@bsu-cs.bsu.edu (Chael Hall)]

     I am about 300 messages behind on the list because I'm dialing in long-
distance right now, but I just happened to think of something because it is
related directly to my work...  I install and debug voice mail systems all
the time that run on 286's, 386's or 486's and can run up to 24 telephone
lines on a single computer *at full speed*.  The analog signal gets
digitized by the voice board, compressed, and stored on disk whenever a
person leaves a message.

     What if an extra step were added where the information were encrypted
before being written to disk and it took the receiver entering his PGP
key on the PC before it would play the messages to him?  Then, if this
works, the user on each end could use a computer with a voice board in it
and dial into one port while an encrypted/scrambled session is being
transmitted on another port.  Who knows how real-time it would be and
I don't have the technical expertise to pull it off, but I see these
things go out of our office every day with little security other than that
of obscurity on them.

     One note, though, the voice boards that we use (high quality) cost
anywhere from $800 for a repaired one to $1000 for the one I like the best
to $1200 for a different brand that we also sell.  Neither voice mail
software vendor is willing to give us the super-secret security code that
unlocks full system access, so I seriously doubt if I could scare any
source out of them.

     Anyway, it is a thought and now that I have my own voice board to
play with I might just try to piece together some interesting software.

Chael

--
Chael Hall
nowhere@bsu-cs.bsu.edu, 00CCHALL@BSUVC.BSU.EDU, chall@bsu.edu
(317) 776-4000 from 8 am - 5 pm CST