TalkTalk turns StalkStalk to build malware blocker

[Fad]

It's less TalkTalk, more StalkStalk: the UK's second largest ISP has quietly begun following its customers around the web and scanning what they look at for a new anti-malware system it is developing.

Without telling customers, the firm has switched on the compulsory first part of the system, which is harvesting lists of the URLs every one of them visits. It often then follows them to the sites to scan for threats.

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2010/07...lk_stalkstalk/

http://www.ispreview.co.uk/story/201...t-consent.html

[Keyboard_Commando]

It's interesting how, AT THE TIME, of Huawei being given the contract to install a newer UK communications network ... the talk was ... how the Chinese would be surreptitiously spying, and even capable of launching cyber attacks against UK using hidden backdoors in the technology. The talk certainly took some eye's off the ball!

But - Same Old Same Old - contracting out the profiling dirty work to 3rd parties to get around privacy laws there to protect the citizen. I guess that's why the British company (Marconi) that also bid for the contract didn't get the job. . Huawei are accountable to only the Chinese Gov. So we'll never know what spying technology the UK government requested to be built within the network.

Just hope the Chinese don't have the last laugh in this politician idiocy.

[LockBox]

Correct me if I'm wrong, but aren't Cameron and Clegg both committed to rolling back much of the ability of the ISPs to do this kind of thing? They seem very good on these issues. (I'm in the USA)

[Keyboard_Commando]

Originally Posted by LockBox

Correct me if I'm wrong, but aren't Cameron and Clegg both committed to rolling back much of the ability of the ISPs to do this kind of thing? They seem very good on these issues. (I'm in the USA)

But Euro member states are required to retain minimum ISP information, under EU law here. So Cameron and Clegg talking is one thing, but reducing the data retention is not gonna happen. The EU laws are still a basic invasion of privacy, as they are.

* to trace and identify the source of a communication;
* to trace and identify the destination of a communication;
* to identify the date, time and duration of a communication;
* to identify the type of communication;
* to identify the communication device;
* to identify the location of mobile communication equipment.


Individual nation states within the EU can pretty much only determine the time data can be stored - which is between 6 months and 2 years. Although UK put in place snooping laws a month or two after 9/11 - under a unique Anti-Terror law, and then a revision in 2005 - this law overrides EVERYTHING else in place - for UK citizens. It's literally no-holds-barred - for individual cases deemed to be a threat to the nation. So it will be interesting to see if the Prevention of Terrorism Act is ever revised under Cameron and Clegg. Doubtful.

This, with TalkTalk, is a continuation of the last governments 'Interception_Modernisation_Programme' - by the looks of it. ISP's 'experiment' with techniques to gather information, like Phorm did with BT a while back here - very similar to this with TalkTalk. And as soon as it's exposed, it is scrapped. These ISP's never ask the customer if they are prepared to take part in the trials. It's very secretive.

The new plans are thought to involve spending £2bn on paying ISPs to install deep packet inspection equipment within their own networks, and obliging them to perform the cross-correlation and profiling of their users' behaviour themselves [7], in effect achieving the original goals of the IMP by different means

Just business as usual under Cameron and Clegg when it comes to ISP data retention - it looks like. Meet the new boss, same as the old boss ... as The Who song goes ...

Although ... I did read the other day the new government is reducing funding to the crappy speed cameras. Maybe they will axe them altogether. I might forgive them snooping my ISP data if they scrap speed cameras for good!

[CloneRanger]

Thanks for the heads up and info/links everybody

Charles Dunstone chairman of the TalkTalk group, did recently say that, he would resist and not cooperate with requests for ISP data records of his customers, from government etc. I tried to find the article again, without success so far

*

"Our scanning engines receive no knowledge about which users visited what sites (e.g. telephone number, account number, IP address), nor do they store any data for us to cross-reference this back to our customers," it said.

"We are not interested in who has visited which site - we are simply scanning a list of sites which our customers, as a whole internet community, have visited."

However the system touches on the same legal issues that dogged Phorm's targeted advertising system. Under the relevant laws, URLs are deemed communications content, and intercepting them without customer permission is prohibited.

TalkTalk's spokeswoman said that URLs added to the whitelist are deleted after 24 hours, while blacklisted pages are checked every day and unblocked if they are clean for seven days in a row.

When the blocking features and parental controls of the system are activated, customers will be asked if they want to opt in at no extra cost, TalkTalk representatives said.

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2010/07...alk_stalkstalk

We'll see if it's true, sooner or later What legal redress would anyone have if "somehow" data was retained and used against someone at some time ?

IP's to "possibly" block - 62.24.222.131 - 62.24.222.132 -

Opal Telecom - http://www.talktalkmembers.com/forum...ad.php?t=46287

Opal is the B2B division of The Carphone Warehouse Group - http://www.evolvingagency.com/home/portfolio/opal - Opal Telecom is the business broadband and telephone provider of TalkTalk - https://secure.wikimedia.org/wikiped...i/Opal_Telecom

*

Charles Dunstone, Chairman of the TalkTalk Group

we’re committed to giving all of our customers absolute clarity about who we are, the services we provide and the prices we charge.

http://www.talktalkblog.co.uk/2010/0...cali-customers

Phorm

Charles Dunstone, boss of CarphoneWarehouse (CPW), told the Times: "We were only going to do it if BT did it and if the whole industry was doing it. We were not interested enough to do it on our own.”

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2009/07...m_shares_again

Carphone Warehouse has become the first of the three UK ISPs who have agreed to pimp data to ad targeting outfit Phorm to announce a major rethink of how it will use the technology.

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2008/03...shares_plummet

[trott3r]

Would using OpenDNS protect me from from this sort of snooping or should i be using Peerblock to block TalkTalk IP addresses?


thank

Martin

[Fad]

TalkTalk won`t snoop on you....unless you are a customer of theirs and then they will track where you`ve been, apparently the new system being trialled is built into their own network and collects the addresses of where you have visited.

With no personally identifiable information being passed other than the address - allegedly.

That`s what I can figure out....but the arguments are still going on

[trott3r]

Originally Posted by Fad

TalkTalk won`t snoop on you....unless you are a customer of theirs and then they will track where you`ve been, apparently the new system being trialled is built into their own network and collects the addresses of where you have visited.

With no personally identifiable information being passed other than the address - allegedly.

That`s what I can figure out....but the arguments are still going on

Unfortunately I am one of their customers now after Pipex was bought by tiscali and now they have been bought by talk talk.

It looks like from the info on slashdot that opal telecommunications is the server they use. This is present in peerblock business ip addresss list.

Looks like opendns isnt working since i am still getting opal telecoms in peerblock.

I would like someone with more technical knowledge to suggest what I can do.

Martin

[CloneRanger]

I'm going to try experimenting putting some or all the IP's into my HOSTS file. Not sure if it'll break anything, but even if it does it's very easy to change it back

Opal Telecom IP ranges = 62.24.128.0 - 62.24.255.255

Found this in their DNS records ? - 132.222.24.62 = NTT COMWARE Gotanda Bldg.2-1-1Nishi-gotanda Shinagawa-ku, Tokyo, 141-0031 Japan

http://www.nttcom.co.jp/english

*

Huawei

Huawei has a joint venture with Siemens for developing TD-SCDMA products.

In 2003, Huawei entered into a joint venture named Huawei-3Com with 3Com for Internet Protocol-based routers and switches, eventually selling its 49% stake to 3Com in 2007 for $US 882 million.[6]

Huawei and American security firm Symantec announced in May 2007 the forming of a joint-venture company that will develop security and storage appliances to market to telecommunications carriers. Huawei will own 51% of the new company, to be named Huawei Symantec Inc. Symantec will own the rest. The joint-venture will be based in Chengdu.

https://secure.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/wiki/Huawei

SCDMA = https://secure.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/wiki/TD-SCDMA

[trott3r]

In peerblock I got opal Telecommunications hitting the block list at 89.240.216.123

Different to the IP addresses you are suggesting

MArtin

[Keyboard_Commando]

That is some creepy stuff in the TalkTalk forum. lol

Just boggles the mind ... the ridiculously blatant invasion of privacy.