cost of frame relay snooping

[Jyri Kaljundi <jk () stallion ee>]

This is not directly on topic of firewalls, but since VPN's get discussed
here also (and probably will be discussed more and more in the future), it
still probably belongs here.

The question is about frame relay security, I don't know about you out
there, but I personally constantly hear (mostly from network providers who
sell frame relay service) about how frame relay is more secure than
Internet. Of course we know this is not the case, the only way to ensure
frame relay security is to use end-to-end encryption. 

Still I have been thinking about what it takes to break frame relay
security. Has anyone done any cost assessments about how much it takes to
snoop on frame relay lines? Sorry I know nothing about actual frame relay
equipment, what is needed to listen and record FR traffic (on telecom
fiber lines between cities, or at the last step where the line is
connected to the customer premises). Basically does this cost $1.000,
$5.000, $10.000, $100.000 ? It would be nice to know some approximate
number. I assume here that you could physically have access to the
network, like down in city tunnels or where connections are made outside
the customer premises.

Do any of you think about this when you decide if a frame relay connection
should buy VPN encryption software or not?

Jyri Kaljundi
jk () stallion ee
AS Stallion Ltd
http://www.stallion.ee/