Easy Ways to Prevent Phone Hacking

Phone hacking, or "phreaking", costs companies billions of dollars. The worst part; a lot of carries expect you to pick up the tab!

 It all started a few decades ago when hackers found a way to access the telephone network simply by employing a series of tones inputted via a "blue box". By using nothing more than these tones they tricked the system into permitting them to make free long distance calls. These days, phone hacking has gotten a little more sophisticated, with hackers breaking into business phone systems through voicemail ports.

 Don't fret; there are safety precautions you can take to ensure your business phone system is better protected:

•  Schedule a routine review of phone invoices for any anomalies.
• When you install new equipment, don't leave the access codes on the default settings.
• Use complex passwords ("1234" is not complex!)
• Make sure your service provider has an extensive fraud monitoring policy.
• Whenever a staff member leaves the company, make sure to disable their access credentials.
• If you have more than one person accessing the business phone system, be sure that they each have separate access credentials.