Hacking is a part of any business that has computers or any system connected to a live internet connection to the web. Once you go online, you instantly become vulnerable to attacks. PBX and VoIP phone systems are not exempt from that truth. Annually hackers break into these types of systems causing millions of dollars in losses for organizations each year.

Who will protect you?

If you get hacked it can result in a substantial amount of unauthorized call charged to your account from people or groups of hackers that infiltrate your account. They use your account to make long distance or international calls to commit crimes. A lot of hackers that perpetrate these crimes are groups using VoIP systems to make make scam tech support calls duping these customers out of hundreds or thousands of dollars.

Your VoIP company provides basic security on the phone and advanced security on their network, but ultimately it is your responsibility to protect your own network from intrusions.

How does it happen?

The main point of hacking your phone system is so hackers can use your number to place international calls at no cost to themselves. Any charges will be billed to your company. Hackers look for any weakness in your system from voicemail pins to feature call codes. Once they have entered the system they can reprogram your phone to make international calls. They often mimic a call operator and divert calls to their own plans. You won’t notice anything during regular office hours, they typically do this after hours when no one is in the office.

Here’s how to protect your phone

  • Don’t use your default pin
  • Change your pin on a regular basis
  • Turn off call forwarding unless you really need to use it
  • Get rid of any unused mailboxes
  • Disable international call access unless you use it regularly
  • Keep your phone system admin unit in a secure place
  • Put after hours restrictions on international calling
  • Disable administration short codes
  • Review your call log to make sure you are the one placing the calls
  • Double check your phone bill to make sure there are no extra charges making your bill jump in cost significantly
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