Are Your Telephone's Recording Bills Excessive? Here's How You Can Beat It!

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Are Your Telephone's Recording Bills Excessive? Here's How You Can Beat It!

Posted On : Nov-29-2011 | seen (450) times | Article Word Count : 593 |

Phreaking (or dial-through fraud) could cause your business a lot of money. Nonetheless, there are lots of ways you can prevent that. Below are things that you must understand about it, and tips on how to prevent your telephone's from racking up suspiciously high bills.

Phreaking (or dial-through fraud) is a problem for many businesses. It is because it brings to businesses in the UK alone 1.2 billion pounds in losses annually, according to recent figures cited by the BBC. Such losses come from illegal calls made by hackers and scammers using a said firm's telephone system. Below are things you ought to know about it, and how you could combat the issue.

What is phreaking?

Phreaking is when hackers break into a telephone network through a weakness in the system. These are generally done with the purposes of either enjoying long-distance calls for free, getting free phone services, taking control of lines, tapping into another's calls, and more recently making money.

There's a lot of ways hackers could gain access to your phone network. One of these is through an unsecure voicemail account either with no password, or a password that's too easy to remember. Another is by using remote diagnostic access - used particularly if you got a system of changing voicemail passwords. They're only two of many ways. What makes this scary is that they can be hard to trace because they may use a network of hacked telephone systems to get into yours.

How do I know if my phone has been phreaked?

You could tell if you've been hacked if your phone bill is much higher than usual. Let's say your firm's telephones are recording 500-600pounds a month on the bill on average, but then you get recent bills that cost many times that. Other warning signs you have to watch out for include details that show calls being made through your system during times outside business hours, weekends, or holidays. Unfortunately, as far as your phone service provider is concerned, your phone network was the one being used so you will have to pay the charges even if you or your employees did not make those calls.

The ways you can overcome it

There are numerous ways you can fight phone phreaking. Among these ways include having a voicemail password policy that sets guidelines on how often passwords have to be changed, and the requirement of the use of more difficult passwords. Other means include rigging your network to lock out telephone system access attempts after a certain number of tries, the use of call detail logging and accounting rules inside your company, or the locking of remote direct inward system access just to name a few.

Another way is through using technologies including anti-fraud systems. What they do is keep an eye on calls dialled via your network, and electronically disconnect pre-set unauthorised numbers. A good anti-fraud system lets you set the rules on how it runs - like how many calls are allowed to go out simultaneously, and so on. It can be used either alone, or even better, as a part of a call recording and management system that not only can curb phreaking, but also identify fraudulent activities, and manage and report legitimate call activities and the like.

If you're having issues with phreaking, don't panic! However, study the options carefully, regardless of whether you are looking at changing policies concerning access to voicemail or your overall phone system, or intending to install anti-fraud systems that complement your call recording/telephone recording and management system. And seek a professional's help if you aren't sure about some things so they could help you understand and solve your issues.

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<h1>Are Your Telephone's Recording Bills Excessive? Here's How You Can Beat It!</h1> Author: <a href='http://www.articleseen.com/profile_Michael Spats.aspx'>Michael Spats</a> Phreaking (or dial-through fraud) is a problem for many businesses. It is because it brings to businesses in the UK alone 1.2 billion pounds in losses annually, according to recent figures cited by the BBC. Such losses come from illegal calls made by hackers and scammers using a said firm's telephone system. Below are things you ought to know about it, and how you could combat the issue.

What is phreaking?

Phreaking is when hackers break into a telephone network through a weakness in the system. These are generally done with the purposes of either enjoying long-distance calls for free, getting free phone services, taking control of lines, tapping into another's calls, and more recently making money.

There's a lot of ways hackers could gain access to your phone network. One of these is through an unsecure voicemail account either with no password, or a password that's too easy to remember. Another is by using remote diagnostic access - used particularly if you got a system of changing voicemail passwords. They're only two of many ways. What makes this scary is that they can be hard to trace because they may use a network of hacked telephone systems to get into yours.

How do I know if my phone has been phreaked?

You could tell if you've been hacked if your phone bill is much higher than usual. Let's say your firm's telephones are recording 500-600pounds a month on the bill on average, but then you get recent bills that cost many times that. Other warning signs you have to watch out for include details that show calls being made through your system during times outside business hours, weekends, or holidays. Unfortunately, as far as your phone service provider is concerned, your phone network was the one being used so you will have to pay the charges even if you or your employees did not make those calls.

The ways you can overcome it

There are numerous ways you can fight phone phreaking. Among these ways include having a voicemail password policy that sets guidelines on how often passwords have to be changed, and the requirement of the use of more difficult passwords. Other means include rigging your network to lock out telephone system access attempts after a certain number of tries, the use of call detail logging and accounting rules inside your company, or the locking of remote direct inward system access just to name a few.

Another way is through using technologies including anti-fraud systems. What they do is keep an eye on calls dialled via your network, and electronically disconnect pre-set unauthorised numbers. A good anti-fraud system lets you set the rules on how it runs - like how many calls are allowed to go out simultaneously, and so on. It can be used either alone, or even better, as a part of a call recording and management system that not only can curb phreaking, but also identify fraudulent activities, and manage and report legitimate call activities and the like.

If you're having issues with phreaking, don't panic! However, study the options carefully, regardless of whether you are looking at changing policies concerning access to voicemail or your overall phone system, or intending to install anti-fraud systems that complement your call recording/telephone recording and management system. And seek a professional's help if you aren't sure about some things so they could help you understand and solve your issues.

About the Author: Michael Spats is a telecommunications consultant who has peddled <a rel="nofollow" href="http://www.retellrecorders.co.uk/">call recording</a> and other similar services. For additional information on how these could protect your business from phreaking, read up about <a rel="nofollow" href="http://www.retellrecorders.co.uk/">telephone recording</a>. Article Source: <a href='http://www.articleseen.com/Article_Are-Your-Telephones-Recording-Bills-Excessive-Heres-How-You-Can-Beat-It!_111530.aspx'> http://www.articleseen.com/Article_Are Your Telephone's Recording Bills Excessive? Here's How You Can Beat It!_111530.aspx</a>

Article Source : http://www.articleseen.com/Article_Are Your Telephone's Recording Bills Excessive? Here's How You Can Beat It!_111530.aspx

Author Resource :
Michael Spats is a telecommunications consultant who has peddled call recording and other similar services. For additional information on how these could protect your business from phreaking, read up about telephone recording.

Keywords : call recording, telephone recording,

Category : Communications : Communications

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