Rink
08-06-2004, 02:52 PM
<font size=4>Internet Phone Use Cheap But Vulnerable to Hacker Attacks</font>
By Ken Belson
08/05/04 12:22 PM PT
Already, a few malicious attacks have shut down corporate Internet phone networks, disrupting business at a cost of millions of dollars. With Internet phones, hackers or disgruntled employees with access to a company's phone server can eavesdrop on conversations by surreptitiously installing software that can track voice packets.
New technology comes with risks, no matter how great the advantages. Computers and computer networks can store huge amounts of information, but they can also freeze, crash, melt down or be targets of malicious attacks.
The dangers are no different with Internet phones, which more and more consumers and businesses are using. The phones break voice conversations into data packets and route them over the Internet, a cheap and more flexible alternative to traditional phone calls that travel over copper wires.
But Internet phones and the routers and servers that steer and store the digitized calls are susceptible to the bugs, viruses, worms and other attacks that have plagued computer data systems for years.
Already, a few malicious attacks have shut down corporate Internet phone networks, disrupting business at a cost of millions of dollars. With Internet phones, hackers or disgruntled employees with access to a company's phone server can eavesdrop on conversations by surreptitiously installing software that can track voice packets.
Easy 'Wiretapping'
Worse, tapping phones by hacking into servers and hard drives is easier than wiretapping, which requires special equipment and more effort. Now, hackers can eavesdrop on hundreds of calls without ever leaving home.
In theory, hackers can listen in on anyone, including ordinary consumers using a commercial Internet phone service. Hackers, though, are more likely to focus on business Internet phone lines to glean information that can be used for profit.
Internet security experts and phone makers say the amount of damage so far has been minimal and is hard to quantify because the technology is new and few companies want to disclose problems.
Hackers, too, have mostly focused their attention elsewhere. But anecdotal evidence and the history of trouble with data networks suggest that it may be only a matter of time before the number and seriousness of the attacks increase.
More on this Story (http://www.technewsworld.com/story/35597.html)
By Ken Belson
08/05/04 12:22 PM PT
Already, a few malicious attacks have shut down corporate Internet phone networks, disrupting business at a cost of millions of dollars. With Internet phones, hackers or disgruntled employees with access to a company's phone server can eavesdrop on conversations by surreptitiously installing software that can track voice packets.
New technology comes with risks, no matter how great the advantages. Computers and computer networks can store huge amounts of information, but they can also freeze, crash, melt down or be targets of malicious attacks.
The dangers are no different with Internet phones, which more and more consumers and businesses are using. The phones break voice conversations into data packets and route them over the Internet, a cheap and more flexible alternative to traditional phone calls that travel over copper wires.
But Internet phones and the routers and servers that steer and store the digitized calls are susceptible to the bugs, viruses, worms and other attacks that have plagued computer data systems for years.
Already, a few malicious attacks have shut down corporate Internet phone networks, disrupting business at a cost of millions of dollars. With Internet phones, hackers or disgruntled employees with access to a company's phone server can eavesdrop on conversations by surreptitiously installing software that can track voice packets.
Easy 'Wiretapping'
Worse, tapping phones by hacking into servers and hard drives is easier than wiretapping, which requires special equipment and more effort. Now, hackers can eavesdrop on hundreds of calls without ever leaving home.
In theory, hackers can listen in on anyone, including ordinary consumers using a commercial Internet phone service. Hackers, though, are more likely to focus on business Internet phone lines to glean information that can be used for profit.
Internet security experts and phone makers say the amount of damage so far has been minimal and is hard to quantify because the technology is new and few companies want to disclose problems.
Hackers, too, have mostly focused their attention elsewhere. But anecdotal evidence and the history of trouble with data networks suggest that it may be only a matter of time before the number and seriousness of the attacks increase.
More on this Story (http://www.technewsworld.com/story/35597.html)