For some reason some documents have to be via fax. Can you hack a fax line?
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Coronavirus
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For some reason some documents have to be via fax. Can you hack a fax line?
It's harder than snooping on a digital transmission. You can snoop on an analog line and decode the fax yourself, but you need to physically connect to the analog line.
Not sure where fax ends and email begins anymore though. Afaik, most faxes are generated and/or received by devices connected to a computer network (often the office photocopier to generate and receive either through the same copier or straight to email). As soon as you break the analog chain, who cares about fax, it is probably less secure as it is unencrypted.
The second point is I doubt Ma Bell has analog anything either, I expect your fax will go digital and sent to fiber at the closest possible location. No idea how decent security is in the Bell digital realm (hopefully good). If 99% of a fax transmission is digital, does it matter that it is 1% analog?
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It is not always about logic.... the fax was deemed to be "safe" at some point in time, and now it is a bit of a sacred cow--always done that way so we keep doing it that way. Doing things entirely digital requires a new "agreement" (for lack of a better term) that it is "safe". The powers that be would have to make an actual decision and come to a new consensus.
Mad Mike
Well-known member
You need physical access to the analog telephone circuit to intercept a fax, not quite as simple as intercepting email. In the old days, the most popular method was to use a PureData SatisFaxion card installed in series with the receiving machine. The card would accept the fax, then re-transmit it to the receiving machine using the originator's fax signature.
The SatisFAXtion cards were used because they employed a least cost routing scheme that relayed faxes between local telephone numbers -- they were inherently capable of interception as their ports were configurable as POTs interfaces.
I haven't seen one of those cards for 20 years -- although I probably have a couple in my attic if anyone really needs to snoop a fax.
sburns
Well-known member
I can see there being some of that, but going all digital means getting everyone on board with this kinda of transition, which is probablly a huge headache, and costs probally a lot more to implement and train people to do things the right way. Fax's are simple to use and cheaper to run, and with it being a aging tech less of a vector for hacks so it's fairly safe.
But is it or is that just optics? I suspect that it is only the last mile that is is analog on either end (and probably not even that in many cases).
It is very easy to get access to the twisted pair, but not from your couch. Also, most faxes today are network connected fax/scanner/printers...that let you send a fax (through the machine) from a desktop if you know how....just saying. It really is a sacred cow.
I was involved in the early days of eHealth (actually well before it was called that) from the carrier perspective, some of the "last mile" security asks were pie in the sky at the time, yet how they were currently doing it was insecure. We can't do it electronically because of security and privacy, but we can keep using insecure old tech. Decades later...
Exactly what I said to a few others this morning when they made similar comparisons.
It's almost like most people have never bothered to search how the incubation period works, or something. /s
Pretty much a guarantee.
Well, the last I checked the doctor that reinfected NB had a cluster of 15 cases. I am not sure if those are all direct infections or if that has multiple levels of transmission. Either way he is an idiot. More of the story came out, it doesn't make him any less of an idiot. Now he says he is suffering racist attacks (not sure if true or if he is just latching onto other unrest to minimize his idiocy). So one highly trained person that is interacting with others daily while wearing PPE gets you to 15 in two weeks. What do several thousand not wearing PPE get you in one day?
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And now someone's dead because of him. Stupid *&^*&^.
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The Doc doesn't get it. He is still minimizing and deflecting.
"Maybe it was an error in judgment," said Ngola, pointing out that workers, including nurses who live in Quebec, cross the border each day with no 14-day isolation period required.
"Who hasn't made an error in judgment?" he said. "That's why I have compassion towards everyone."
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And now someone's dead because of him. Stupid *&^*&^.
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The Doc doesn't get it. He is still minimizing and deflecting.
"Maybe it was an error in judgment," said Ngola, pointing out that workers, including nurses who live in Quebec, cross the border each day with no 14-day isolation period required.
"Who hasn't made an error in judgment?" he said. "That's why I have compassion towards everyone."
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sburns
Well-known member
Was thinking the same thing, like when all the spring breakers got it after they thought they wouldn't.
Just looked over some FB posts from my cousins in Poland...they're opening up full bore. Lots of people joining together, sauna days(!), weddings, everything seems to be ramping up rather quickly...I'll be watching closely to see what happens in the next few weeks and hope COVID doesn't make much of an resurgence.
I'm not sure if this belongs in Corona Virus thread, the US is ^&&&& thread or some other thread. 700 people showed up in cobourg for a BLM march. Pictures of the march generated hundreds of comments. Many comments are about the closure of the cobourg beach, many comments are about distancing or lack thereof (including the expected "most of the people in the march are young and unaffected by covid"). People defending the lack of distancing justified it by saying most of the time they were apart, they just grouped for some pictures and people shouldn't be so concerned because BLM is more important. WTF. We are all doomed. People seem focused on only A or B. Both are problems. Both can (and should) be addressed concurrently.
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sburns
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Yes exactly, these marches, and protests are good for raising awareness, but does it really help people engage with the community, actually taking part to help them out. I hope it does, but I rather people do stuff on a regular basis so we can continunely support them and eventually put all this stuff behind us.
I worked at a school until a couple of years ago, they were still using fax machines to submit timesheets for part-time staff.
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