'Private' broadcast

A new software called SIPtap has demonstrated the vulnerability of voice over Internet protocol (VoIP) phone calls that are easy prey for criminals looking to steal confidential data. SIPtap which is still a "proof-of-concept" software program, but it shows how easy it would be for criminals to eavesdrop on the Internet-based phone calls. SIPtap had no problems in extracting enough information on a test VoIP network, to prove that call recording of any and every VoIP call at a hypothetical company was now a trivial exercise.

Net down

A study that analyzed Internet usage patterns predicts that Internet usage by consumers and corporations could 'outstrip network capacity' worldwide in just over two years, requiring a massive financial investment just to prevent a world-wide Denial of Service (DoS) caused by nothing more than global communications networks lacking the capacity to meet consumer demand. Their shocking conclusion is that an 'Internet Exaflood', capable of bringing down the Net, could tsunami across the world in 2010. Just as shocking is the prediction that a massive US $137 billion will have to be spent globally to keep the quality of service levels where they are today and hopefully continually improving, instead of slowly declining. To put things in perspective however, US $137b is just a drop in the sea compared to the reported US $1.5 trillion spent on the 'war against terror', so hopefully the world remembers to put a few dollars aside to make sure the web still works when even more people, and more devices, will be straining the Internet's infrastructure as never before over the next couple of years.