Lawful Interception for 3GPP: Cisco Service Independent Intercept in the GGSN

Introduction

The Cisco Service Independent Intercept ™ (SII) architecture is a generic architecture in IP networks that is independent of the service being intercepted. The Cisco Gateway GPRS Support Node (GGSN) provides solutions based on the Cisco SII architecture that facilitate lawful electronic surveillance of communications. Previously available for data and voice services, it has been extended for 3GPP mobile systems.

This paper presents two methods for intercepting mobile targets: One uses the new mobile inception filter in the GGSN. The other employs the IP interception functions of the Cisco 7600 Series Router. It enables the interception of roaming targets inside their home network. It also facilitates the use of direct tunnel architecture, specified in 3GPP Release 7, which bypasses the Serving GPRS Support Node (SGSN) for data traffic.

Elements of Lawful Interception

The term Lawful Interception (LI) describes the process by which law enforcement agencies conduct electronic surveillance of circuit and packet-mode communications as authorized by judicial or administrative order. The means and authority of conducting LI is often recorded in government legislation or regulatory mandates.

LI is initiated by a warrant from the Law Enforcement Agency (LEA), which identifies a target identity, a specific LI service, and a period of time. It requires the service provider (SP) to deliver Intercept-Related Information (IRI) and/or Content of Communication (CC) associated with sessions initiated by a specific target...

http://www.cisco.com/web/about/security/intelligence/LI-3GPP.html

Cisco apologizes for privacy 'confusion,' makes cloud service an opt-in feature - privacy, routers, networking hardware, WLANs / Wi-Fi, wireless, networking, security, Cisco Systems - CIO

Cisco Systems has taken a step back from its Cisco Connect Cloud service, removing it as the default setting for management of its Linksys EA Series Wi-Fi routers after a firestorm of complaints from customers about automatic firmware updates and the service's terms of service.

The default method for managing the high-end Linksys routers has been changed to traditional setup and management over the local network, Cisco said in a blog entry posted on Thursday. When the company brought Cisco Connect Cloud online last week, it made the Internet-based administration service into the default tool for the routers.

via cio.com.au

Cisco and Abuses of Human Rights in China: Part 1

This is the first in a two-part series explaining the background around the EFF call to action over Cisco assisting the Chinese government in abusing human rights. This article outlines the background of the issue and the first of our two demands to Cisco: intervening on behalf of dissident writer Du Daobin. Our next post will outline specifically how Cisco and other similar networking companies can pledge to uphold human rights.

If you have not done so, we urge you to sign our petition to Cisco. And if you’ve already signed, please continue to spread the word.

Understanding Du v. Cisco

What responsibility do corporations have to consider human rights when making business deals? Are companies that build and market equipment for the purpose of surveilling and censoring pro-democracy activists in authoritarian regimes culpable when those activists are imprisoned or tortured? Do companies bear a special responsibility if they customize products to improve the efficacy of tracking dissidents and choking free speech? What if the companies train government agents in using the technology to ferret out activists?

via eff.org

Lawsuit links Cisco with China crackdown

"By Joseph Menn in San Francisco
Published: May 23 2011 20:21 | Last updated: May 23 2011 20:21

Senior executives at Cisco Systems worked closely with Chinese government security agents to tailor hardware and software they knew would be used to track, detain and torture followers of the banned Falun Gong spiritual movement, according to a US federal lawsuit filed last week.

The suit accuses the networking company’s chief executive John Chambers and leaders of Cisco’s China business of close collaboration with Beijing, citing statements on company websites, at trade shows and in internal documents.

The 52-page complaint was brought by the Washington-based Human Rights Law Foundation, which has handled other legal issues for Falun Gong followers, on behalf of residents in the US and survivors of some said to have been killed in China for their participation in Falun Gong activities..."

http://www.ft.com/cms/s/2/ed449f78-8567-11e0-ae32-00144feabdc0.html