Phone system hacking has been going on for decades and is still a big problem. We have been called to help solve many cases in recent years. Make sure your telecom provider is aware of the security vulnerabilities of your systems and how they can protect against hacking. Particularly vulnerable are auto-attendant features, call forwarding, DISA (Direct Inward System Access), and voicemail notification features. If you see calls on your phone bill to odd international locations, costing extra large amounts, or at odd times such as nights or weekends, it could be an indication of your system having been hacked.

Phone hackers leave RABI with £2k bill

Philip Case  Tuesday 03 December 2013 [Farmers Weekly]
Criminals have hacked into the telephone system of farming charity the RABI and spent nearly £2,000 calling premium-rate numbers.

Telephones at the RABI’s head office in Oxford were targeted at the weekend when hackers accessed voicemail codes and spent hours dialling a premium-rate number, thought to be based in Russia and set up to carry out this kind of fraud.

The fraud was stopped after five hours late on Friday evening (29 November) when telephone provider du Pré noticed the unusual activity and blocked calls to and from the charity. However, in just a few hours they had already cost the RABI around £2,000.

The charity’s phones, including its confidential helpline for farming families in need, were down for 72 hours following the attack, preventing people who may be in urgent need from seeking help. However, the phone lines were up and running again by 3pm on Tuesday.

Chief executive Paul Burrows said: “We help farming families in financial need, often in extreme circumstances. It’s hard to believe someone would sink so low – especially at this time of year – and not only prevent people from getting the help they need, but effectively steal money which we and the people who support us work hard to raise.

“£2,000 could, for example, have bought food vouchers for 10 families at Christmas, paid for a relief worker to help a farmer who has suffered a tragic accident, or paid for 10 lifeline alarms to keep elderly people safe in their own homes.”

He added: “As an organisation we take security very seriously but it seems that all it took was for someone to guess a voicemail code at random.

“We now understand this kind of fraud costs UK businesses at least £16m a year. I should like to warn other organisations and especially other charities to be on their guard in case it happens to them too.

“We were fortunate that our service provider noticed the unusual telephone activity and barred calls before we lost even more money. Other people might not be so lucky. It’s clear we all need to remain vigilant and increase the security in our phone systems.”