Tips to protect your Phone from Hacking

You don’t have to be a celebrity to become the victim of phone hacking. Anyone that listens to your voice mails without your consent is a phone hacker. The Royal Family are one of the most famous examples of having their phones hacked. A UK based tabloid was recently found guilty of hacking into the telephone systems of celebrities. From then on phone hacking became a term everyone was familiar with. Phone hacking has also been responsible for preventing the course of justice, when it was discovered that the voice mail of murdered British teenager; Milly Dowler’s parents was hacked into and subsequently messages were deleted.



If you are experiencing high phone bills then you may be a victim of phone hacking. Nights and weekends are the most common times for phone hacking to occur, as it unlikely to be discovered. Fraudsters will hack into your phone system and in a process known as ‘phreaking’, will run up your phone bill, adding an extra thousand pounds on sometimes.

Your telephone needs protection, just like your computer uses anti-virus software. However, many people don’t realize until the damage has been done. It’s not just internet geeks that know to do this. Convicts are training themselves from dedicated websites, as they can make a lot of money from hacking into a phone system.

How Does It Happen ?

More often than not, there is an internal member of staff involved in the phone hacking. They will leak PIN numbers to the hoaxers who will carry out the hacking. This enables them to reprogram the PAB, by doing so they reduce the risk of being caught. When they get into the system they can dial any number possible and run up your phone bill. However, we are somewhat guilty ourselves as many of us choose PINs that are easy to remember and as such easy for the hackers to guess. Therefore, it is recommended to change your PIN often. This may seem like a trivial task but it is one that needs to be done to prevent hacking in your company.

Risks

There are some high risks involved with telephone hacking. Everyone is at risk of having their phone hacked. However, you are more likely to be a target for phone hackers if you are rich, powerful or someone that is famous.

How Can It Be Stopped ?

All calls on your telephone systems can be supported by a firewall. You are then in control. You can choose the amount of calls that are made/received outside office hours. Calls to certain numbers can be disconnected and you can choose to only allow calls to staff and emergency services outside office hours.