Monthly Archives: May 2015

  • 10 Ways to Reducing Exposure to Telephone Hacking

    Telephone system hacking is as old as the telephone it’s self. From climbing telephone poles like our favorite Eddie Albert’s character Oliver Wendell Douglas on the 60s TV show Green Acres to the latest high profile FEMA phone system hacking, making free phone calls has not lost it’s appeal. Most hacker calls being made are going to the Middle East to countries like Afghanistan, Saudi Arabia, India, Turkey and Yemen, Once a system has been hacked the code is often sold on the street. From small businesses to the phone companies, hacking is big business. How big can a hacking problem get? Consider Edwin Pena. He set up two companies Fortes Telecom Inc. and Miami Tech & Consulting Inc. and through sophisticated hacking and VoIP call routing, profited over one million dollars back in 2006. With today’s sophisticated VoIP phone systems hackers have more opportunities then ever before. Below is a list of 10 ways you can help protect your company from hackers. 1. Hire a company to do a thorough security analysis of your phone system security. If you can’t afford a $ 12,000.00 phone bill from hackers your company may need this more then a large company. 2. Hackers that left FEMA holding the bag for $ 12,000.00 recently used the Voice Mail system to get in to the system. Make sure your voice mail system does not have the default passwords and that out bound calling features are turned off or addressed. Many voice mail systems can make out bound calls to notify you of messages. This can be used to make calls through your phone system. 3. Old voice mail boxes need to be deleted. If your business is like most, people come and go but voice mail boxes remain active and do not get removed. Delete all old voice mail boxes. 4. DISA is a phone system feature designed to allow companies to use their phone systems to place out going calls remotely. DISA or Direct Inward System Access allows just that. Access to your phone systems telephone lines through the phone system. It was developed long before Cell Phones as a way to reduce old expensive telephone calling cards. Really a favorite among hackers. 5. Auto Attendant used for routing calls can also transfer calls to off site locations make sure if you aren’t doing this that this feature is turned off. If you are using it this feature change your passwords frequently. 6. Call forwarding to outside numbers is another feature while wonderful for working remotely leaves open a window of opportunity. Make sure who ever needs this feature really needs it and make sure this feature is turned off for everyone else. 7. Operator transfers are another way hackers can use your phone lines to make calls. A caller posing as a telephone company repairman will call and say he is testing the phone lines and if the operator would please transfer them to 910333 or 910XXX— these are access numbers to Sprint or any other phone company to make calls direct through your lines through the phone companies network. The phone company will then bill back the call to you at the most expensive calling rate. For more on this check out Sprint’s Corporate security guide. 8. Old Direct Dial Numbers that are no longer being used should be removed for your phone systems numbering scheme until needed again. Hackers are looking for anyway in to your systems. 9. Conference Call Systems and Conference Bridges should be password protected. Hackers can get in to conference bridges to listen to sensitive corporate information. Use in house bridge as opposed to an out side conference call service for maximum protection. An in house conference bridge can be placed behind your company’s firewall and passwords can be changed for every conference. 10. Call Accounting Software such as Tapit Call Accounting can help reduce un authorized phone calls. The Tapit Fraud alert module alarms you when set calling parameters are being breached by sounding an alarm and a text message. For more information on how you can protect your phone system call Telcom & Data at 800-335-0229 or visit www.telcom-data.com

  • XOP Networks deploys its IP based Hoot and Holler Conference Bridge at a Large Airline

    XOP Networks, Inc., a manufacturer of advanced conference bridges, now offers IP based Hoot and Holler conferencing capability.

    Dallas, Texas (PRWEB) May 06, 2015

    XOP Networks, Inc., a manufacturer of advanced conference bridges now offers IP based Hoot and Holler conference bridges. These bridges have proven interoperability with a number of Push to Talk (PTT) four wire FXS to SIP gateways, Turrets, Squawk boxes and a variety of SIP based Hoot and Holler end devices.

    Hoot and holler networks provide “always on” multiuser conferences without requiring users to dial into a conference. Such conferences are routinely used by brokerages, news agencies, publishers, weather bureaus, Satellite Launch operators, transportation providers, power plant operators and nationwide salvage yard organizations.

    Hoot and holler networks are traditionally deployed using point-to-point leased lines that terminate into a TDM based hoot and holler conference bridge that is hosted either by the customer or by the PSTN carrier.

    Large corporations have been implementing their own private data networks. These networks typically touch all physical locations that are involved in hoot-n-holler conferencing as well. Hence, a more cost effective approach for implementing the hoot network is to convert the traditional 4 wire devices (PTT Radios, Phones, Squawk boxes etc.) into SIP end points with the help of media gateways and then connect the resulting voice paths to an IP based Hoot-n-Holler conference bridge over the data network.

    Our IP based Hoot-n-Holler conference bridge is a robust Linux based platform that is designed to fulfill the ‘always on’ audio conferencing needs of large mission critical networks

    The benefits of using the IP based Hoot and Holler network approach are:

    • Eliminate the need for expensive leased lines
    • Improve hoot and holler network manageability
    • PSTN connectivity to H-n-H network
    • Reduce the time to troubleshoot a problem from hours to minutes
    • Pave way for adding native SIP based Hoot-n-Holler end devices going forward

    One of the largest airlines in the world recently deployed XOP Networks’ IP based Hoot-n-Holler conference bridges. Two conference bridges are deployed in Hot/Standby high availability configuration at two separate geographical locations thereby ensuring 99.999% availability.

    “Our IP based Hoot-n-Holler conference bridge is a robust Linux based platform that is designed to fulfill the ‘always on’ audio conferencing needs of large mission critical networks. It supports both legacy TDM and VoIP/SIP interfaces thus allowing our customers to migrate their hoot-n-holler networks towards packet based networking at their own pace,” said Sudhir Gupta, CEO of XOP Networks.

    “Our recent success in deploying IP based Hoot and Holler network at the large airline customer proves the validity of the business case. Our customer now has a modern, robust SIP based conference bridge that paid for itself in less than 4 months,” added Doug Jacobs, VP of Sales, XOP Networks.

    About XOP Networks

    Headquartered in Dallas, Texas, XOP Networks was founded in January 2003 and is backed by a seasoned management team. Deployed at multiple Cellular Operators, Fortune 100 companies, CLEC/IOC customers, Government organizations, DOD networks (Air Force, Army and Navy) XOP Networks' products allow customers to boost employee productivity, increase business efficiency and enhance emergency communications. Having both TDM and VoIP interfaces, XOP products allow customers to seamlessly transition their value added services from legacy circuit switched networks to VoIP based packet switched networks.

    For more information about XOP Networks, visit our website at http://www.telcom-data.com/

    About Telcom & Data Inc.
    Since 1996 Telcom & Data has been providing thousands of telecommunications solutions to organizations around the world to measurably improve communications. The company is a leader in business phone systems, intercom systems, and mass notification products. Telcom & Data maintains a network of over 1600 technicians with locations in Chicago, Milwaukee, and Miami.

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