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Security threat 3: Unauthorized calls

The Caller ID has sometimes the status of a formal ID. If someone calls from a certain business
telephone number, he or she is considered to be calling from that company or organization. Of
course you can nowadays use online VoIP services where you can actually choose any
telephone number in any country as your caller ID.

But most often the sound characteristics of these services are worse than you would expect and
some companies even use software to detect such malicious calls. But a call from the real
number? With the right call characteristics and excellent quality? Many people will absolutely
believe that it is a call from their bank, a college or a supplier. They believe the caller since he
has the right Caller ID.

And often it is not the call itself which will do harm. But a trusted caller is the best starting point
for an effective social engineering call. How easy can it be to acquire confidential company
information if you call someone from an internal number within the same organization? I once
saw an example of a person calling the companies’ internal helpdesk. He asked the helpdesk
agent to help him since he failed to open a certain webservice from his computer.

On his request (‘çan you try it for me?’), they kindly typed in the URL to try it on their computer,
clicked and at that moment they already downloaded malware to the company infrastructure.
Stupid? Not according to the rules? Indeed, but the problem is that helpdesk people are
evaluated – sometimes on a daily basis – on the satisfaction levels of their clients. They are
conditioned to help people, not to be suspicious.

So, What shall I do?

You can improve your security plans substantially by checking if advanced IP telephones in your
organization are easily accessible for unauthorized people. If that is the case it is highly
recommended to implement the right security measures (i.e. username and pin code or a Single
Sign-On solution) to protect these telephones. It is a simple measure to remove a potential
security breach from your checklist.

About The Author

Wim Brouwer is product manager at RSconnect. RSconnect develops
Security and Single Sign-On solutions for Unified Communications, IP
Telephony and Call Centers. The main product is the Active Login
Manager software for Cisco Unified Communications and IP Telephony.
Wim can be reached online at [email protected] and at our company
website https://www.rsconnect.net

44 Cyber Warnings E-Magazine – July 2017 Edition
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