20 September 2005
Users of new Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) internet telephony could be opening themselves up to hackers, a new report says.
A threat report from IT firm Symantec says that the technology, which allows users to make free home telephone calls over the internet, could be vulnerable to hacking.
Symantec is worried that users might be targeted by audio spam messages, by phone phishing - whereby users are tricked into handing over sensitive information - and by caller-ID spoofing.
Ollie Whitehouse, technical manager at Symantec's research labs, said: "It's important to put this particular threat in to perspective.
"While there are currently very few reported attacks directed at VoIP systems, Symantec believes it's only a matter of time before attackers target it more intensely, as this new communication technology gains widespread acceptance and deployment."
Symantec thinks that VoIP users will begin to be targeted by hackers over the next few months, and that poorly protected servers will be exploited.
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