Subsentio Launches “Safe Harbor” Certification for Lawful Intercept in Electronic Surveillance of Criminals and Terrorists
March 6, 2013Subsentio Launches “Safe Harbor” Certification for Lawful Intercept in Electronic Surveillance of Criminals and Terrorists
Industry’s First Comprehensive Certification Program Ensures Telecom Operator Compliance with Surveillance Laws and Safeguards 4th Amendment Privacy
DENVER, MARCH 6, 2013 – Subsentio today introduced “Safe Harbor” Certification, the first comprehensive program designed to ensure communications service providers’ compliance with the Communications Assistance for Law Enforcement Act (CALEA) and to protect their customers’ constitutional privacy. “Unique in the industry, ‘Safe Harbor’ guarantees compliance with lawful intercept and privacy laws,” said Steve Bock, Subsentio President. “With law and technology in flux, Subsentio’s end-to-end compliance program means shareholders, executives and their lawyers can sleep at night.” The “Safe Harbor” Certification Program provides proven assurance that Subsentio’s lawful intercept solutions meet the legal requirements of court orders for electronic surveillance. The “Safe Harbor” certification methodology spans:
- Strict Adherence to Industry Standards — for traditional wireline and wireless, VoIP and LTE, using US based standards including J-STD, 678v2, and IAS.
- Expert Installation and Testing and Ongoing Testing and Maintenance — to ensure the highest levels of performance.
- Secure Transmission of Specified Information Only – to protect customers’ right to privacy under the Fourth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution.
The Lawful Intercept Process and “Safe Harbor”
Under “Safe Harbor,” Subsentio provides end-to-end management of the lawful intercept process. Subsentio solutions are expertly installed and integrated with the carrier’s network, rigorously tested, and continuously monitored and re-tested 24x7x365 to ensure “five 9s” performance. Subsentio trains carrier engineering personnel and works closely with network hardware manufacturers to ensure flawless interoperability between its Safe Harbor solution and network devices to identify, isolate and capture pre-specified data only.
When legal authorities issue a court order, Subsentio legal personnel validate the order to ensure it is proper and lawful. Subsentio then administers and manages the court order to make sure that the type of intercept requested collects the proper information, is in place at the requested time, and that the information is transmitted to the requesting law enforcement agency in the correct format. The “Safe Harbor” process is certified and protects customer privacy.
Subsentio in Action
The Subsentio team is renowned for its round-the-clock commitment and capabilities that apply knowledge of provider needs, the lawful intercept process and advanced technologies to save lives, prevent crimes, apprehend perpetrators and protect national security — even when the carrier is not a Subsentio customer.
On a daily basis, Subsentio’s work involves “human interest” stories where rapid response to a threat prevents tragedy, including:
- Teaming with a local and federal law enforcement task force to apprehend an at-large murderer.
- Helping a federal law enforcement agency catch a dangerous narcotics trafficker.
- Identifying intelligence in a child kidnapping case that led to the arrest of a mentally unstable individual and ultimately to safe recovery of the child.
SUBSENTIO COMMENTS ON THE EXTENSION OF FISA
January 15, 2013SUBSENTIO COMMENTS ON THE EXTENSION OF FISA
CONCERN OF WARRANTLESS WIRETAPS IS UNFOUNDED
DENVER, Colorado, January 15, 2013 – Subsentio, a Trusted Third Party service bureau for Lawfully Authorized Electronic Surveillance (LAES), today announced that it supports the recent extension of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act of 1978 (FISA) as amended in 2008. Marcus Thomas, former Assistant Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and a member of Subsentio’s Advisory Board explained the importance of FISA. “The ability to monitor the activities of foreign nationals who intend to do harm to the United States and its citizens is an absolutely critical tool for law enforcement agencies. Many lives have been saved and will continue to be saved with the extension of this legislation. We applaud the US Congress and President Obama for their foresight in keeping FISA in place for another 5 years.” “One of the least understood aspects of FISA is the notion that it is a rubber stamp for warrantless wiretaps,” added Ward Jackson, Chief Security Officer at Subsentio. “We’ve only had 2 warrantless wiretaps at Subsentio and they were both criminal exigent circumstances that involved the kidnapping of a child. FISA is different. Each FISA docket that we have been involved with has always been accompanied by the appropriate paperwork. As a matter of policy, Subsentio would never initiate a wiretap without the proper authority from the courts, FISA or criminal. Since all FISA’s are classified, we recommend that each carrier has someone with a Secret / Top Secret security clearance on staff or on retainer to review the order.”
Erik Cecil, General Counsel for Subsentio expanded on the company’s policy of reviewing all court orders prior to executing the warrant. “On occasion, court orders can be written incorrectly. This may happen because the law enforcement agency may be understaffed and overworked thus unable to review the state and federal legal issues that may come up in this rapidly changing area of technology and privacy regulation. Subsentio carefully reviews all court orders. Moreover because Subsentio has excellent relationships with law enforcement, we are also able to expeditiously obtain corrections where they are legally required. This protects Subsentio’s clients who may be liable if the warrant is invalid and who regardless, want no questions as to the validity of the electronic surveillance they provide to law enforcement. It also benefits law enforcement because valid court orders means they can do their jobs more effectively and efficiently. We encourage all service providers to review any court ordered request for electronic surveillance, including FISA orders, prior to initiating and providing any requested electronic surveillance.”
Subsentio Calls For An End To “Just In Time” CALEA Solutions
December 18, 2012Subsentio Calls For An End To “Just In Time” CALEA Solutions
Federal Act Requires “Expeditious” Delivery Of Intelligence To Law Enforcement Agencies
DENVER, Colorado, December 18, 2012 – Subsentio, a Trusted Third Party service bureau for Lawfully Authorized Electronic Surveillance (LAES), today announced that “Just in Time” solutions may not meet the letter or intent of the federal Communications Assistance for Law Enforcement Act (CALEA).
Steve Bock, President of Subsentio explained, “Just in time CALEA solutions are designed so that a Trusted Third Party or service provider can drop ship specialized lawful intercept equipment to a telecommunications service provider, properly install it within the provider’s network, complete interoperability testing and then isolate and securely deliver intelligence to law enforcement “just in time“. When minutes count, this process can take days.”
“Subsentio’s staff, which includes former FBI agents, knows from experience that when law enforcement needs information to apprehend a suspect that time is of the essence. Lives may be on the line, particularly in exigent circumstances situations,” said Mr. Bock. “A recent exigent circumstance case at Subsentio involved the abduction of a child. Through close and immediate coordination with law enforcement and our carrier customer we were providing real-time information to law enforcement within 10 minutes of the request. This would have been impossible if we tried to do it by sending the equipment overnight in a “Just in Time” model.”
Erik Cecil, General Counsel for Subsentio expanded on why “Just in Time” may not be what Congress meant: “CALEA clearly and specifically requires that communications companies ensure they can expeditiously deliver content and call related information following a court order or exigent circumstances request. Minutes are expeditious. Days aren’t. Just as you would expect a 911 emergency to be handled immediately, so too would you want your network to be ready to respond to law enforcement’s call for help within minutes, not a day or two later.”
Subsentio is urging all service providers to proactively meet their federal legal obligations and to serve their customers and communities by having secure, tested, and reliable law enforcement interfaces and compliance capabilities in place at all times.
Carriers nationwide rely upon and trust Subsentio’s time-tested secure lawful intercept solutions to help their local, state and federal law enforcement agencies do what they do best: ensure community safety.
Subsentio Announces The Release Of The Safe Harbor Probe™
November 27, 2012SUBSENTIO ANNOUNCES THE RELEASE OF THE SAFE HARBOR PROBE™
ELECTRONIC SURVEILLANCE PROBE MAKES CALEA COMPLIANCE AFFORDABLE
DENVER, Colorado, November 27, 2012 – Subsentio, a Trusted Third Party service bureau for Lawfully Authorized Electronic Surveillance (LAES), today announced the release of a new appliance for electronic surveillance, the Safe Harbor Probe™.
Developed by Subsentio’s Chief Technology Officer Dr. Glen Myers, the Safe Harbor Probe™ provides CALEA compliance for a variety of technologies including internet access providers, VoIP providers, and LTE operators. Each technology supports the latest Safe Harbor standards: the ATIS IAS standard for broadband and LTE and the ATIS 678 standard for VoIP. Some of the many features that have been built into the probe include integrated provisioning that requires no separate mediation systems, an integrated VPN to reduce installation complexity, IPv6, and buffering options for law enforcement so that there is no loss of critical output when upstream failures occur.
“One of the first challenges I was presented with when I came to Subsentio was to address the need in the marketplace for a feature rich, easy to use, low cost probe” said Dr. Myers. “As we began to scope the project, it became apparent that if we approached the probe market from the Trusted Third Party viewpoint, the probe becomes a simple black box for the service provider that is managed completely by Subsentio thereby eliminating much of the confusion in how to achieve compliance.” “Developing our own product for the marketplace has been a long term goal at Subsentio” said President Steve Bock. “We can now control our own roadmap to address the needs we see on a daily basis such as buffering for law enforcement and the growing LTE market. Many operators are not compliant today but we feel it’s a matter of education and economics. The Safe Harbor Probe™ reduces the cost of CALEA compliance to just a few pennies, and in many cases fractions of a penny per subscriber per month. As a result we have already seen a tremendous increase in orders for the probe because we continue to bring the cost curve down.”