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Zfone: Secure Cross-Platform Voice Communication for Linux

May 5, 2009

📄 Contents

␡

Why You Need Secure Internet Communication
What Is Zfone?
Installation
Using Zfone
Troubleshooting
Conclusion

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What Is Zfone?

Zfone is a standalone cryptographic package designed to work with VoIP communications software. It was created by Phil Zimmermann, the person who solved the encryption problem for email and file transfer with Pretty Good Privacy (PGP), the most commonly used email encryption package on the Internet. Zfone versions are available for Linux, Windows, and OSX.

Zfone is known to be compatible with the following VoIP clients:

X-Lite
Gizmo (audio, no video yet)
XMeeting
Google Talk VoIP client (but only when Google Talk is using RTP)
Yahoo! Messenger's VoIP client (for audio)
magicJack
SJphone

On Mac OS X (Tiger and Leopard), Zfone will encrypt audio and video for Apple iChat calls.

Zfone fails on Skype, which uses nonstandard proprietary protocols.

Zfone works with the following VoIP service providers:

It fails with Ekiga, but it works with Gizmo on Linux.

You must have a videoconferencing application working and set up, either with a service provider or peer-to-peer, before you install Zfone. Don't depend on the echo test—be sure to test with another VoIP client.

NOTE

If you have problems getting a VoIP application running, and you're using a router, check your router settings to make sure that port-forwarding (required to get incoming data through a NAT router) is set up and working. (PortForward.com has a list of routers and application-specific settings you can check.)

If you have problems with your mixer settings with an ALSA sound setup, run the following command to reset to the defaults:

# alsaconf

In Ubuntu:

$ sudo alsaconf

PortForward.com also lists ports that must be set open through your firewall. (The quickest way to exclude firewall issues from consideration is to shut down the firewall briefly.) Gizmo requires the following ports:

Port 5004-5005 (incoming)
Port 64064 (incoming)
All outgoing ports above 1023

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