[LINK] Murdoch faces flood of hacking claims

[Ben McGinnes]

On 10/04/11 10:42 AM, Kim Holburn wrote:
>
> No-one is addressing the underlying problem - how is it that the
> security on voicemail is so bad.  This is similar to the HP phone
> hacking in the US.
> 
> http://en.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/wiki/Hewlett-Packard_spying_scandal

Interesting case.

> Why do telecoms run such bad security on their phone systems.  How
> can we urge them to fix it? 

As with all things in the corporate world, they won't fix it until it
costs them more not to do so.  Which means that people need to start
suing over breaches brought about as a result of poor default security
settings.

> Is there anything can individuals do to make their security better?

Yes, but it depends on how much effort each person is willing to go
to.

> Personally I always turn my message system off!

To get secure messages that can't be obtained by the News Corporation
methods, the solution I came up with ought to do the trick.  It is,
however, a little technical and might not be the best solution for
everyone.  Anyway, it's pretty straight forward:

1) Configure an Asterisk server with VoIP.

2) Obtain a phone number to redirect to one of the VoIP channels on
the Asterisk server.

3) Set all your other numbers to forward missed calls to the number
assigned to the Asterisk server instead of the telco's message system.

4) Make sure the VoIP channel goes straight to the voice mail system
in Asterisk.

As long as the security of the Asterisk system is maintained it should
keep most, if not all, people out.


Regards,
Ben

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