BBC News Item on Cybercrime

Anti-Hacking Solutions

Dial through fraud or phone system hacking is big business for organised criminals and is on the increase. Terrorist organisations are raising funds by illegally gaining access to phone systems and then re-selling the calls.

Hackers usually target international calls, so that if your phone system is attacked, you could be left with a huge phone bill which could cost your business several thousands of pounds. Some of our own customers have fallen prey to this activity already and have incurred huge costs which the telecommunications provider is not liable for.

Hackers usually strike out of hours, over the weekend or during the holidays when detection is least likely and your communications provider will expect you to pay for all the illegal calls routed through your phone system.

Anti-Hacking Solutions

Cavendish has a number of cost effective anti-hacking solutions which monitor your calls against pre-determined rules and terminate any illegal call traffic. These can be set for 24 hours a day or for specific times to determine which incoming and outbound calls are allowed and restricts diverted calls which is a preferred route for hackers. Please contact us for more details.

General Tips and Advice

Here are some basic steps to take to reduce opportunist phone hacking:

• Change your system passwords on a regular basis.
• Bar international calls if not needed.
• Ensure you are alerted to unusual call activity.

Cavendish does send automatic email alerts to our customers if they exceed their call alert thresholds these are set so that they are notified when unusual call activity takes place. However this is a notification after the event and you may have already run up a sizable bill. The safest way to protect your system is to invest in anti-hacking software or hardware solutions.

For more information on this and how to avoid being hacked, speak to your account manager on 08453 055 655.