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The telecommunication industry faces a growing threat of theft
of customer services. No telecommunications system can be totally
free from the risk of unauthorized usages. Insuring that your systems
are maintained in a secure manner is therefore a prime responsibility
of each organization. This section provides information on toll
fraud and service theft, and on ways to use the system administration
tools to minimize the possibility of such unauthorized activities
occurring on your system.
The following topics are included:
Toll fraud
Detecting Toll Fraud
Unauthorized system use
Toll Fraud
Toll fraud is one of the most expensive corporate crimes that poses
a major threat to telecommunication systems. Toll frauds can result
in huge phone bills, revenue loss in terms of its operational impact,
additional expenses, service interruptions, and the most important
of them all, loss of customer confidence.
What is Toll Fraud?
Toll Fraud is the unauthorized use of a company's telecommunications
service by an unauthorized party (for example, a person who is not
a corporate employee, an agent, or a subcontractor). It occurs when
people misdirect their own telecommunications charges to another
person or business.
How does Toll Fraud occur?
Toll fraud is possible when your system allows the incoming caller
to make a network connection with another person. It is therefore
important to protect vulnerable areas such as call transfer and
bridging to an outbound call. There are numerous ways in which unauthorized
users can attempt to breach your system security. These include:
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Unauthorized system use. Intruders access
one of your messaging systems and creates a mailbox and use
the system. Hackers use personal computers, random number generators,
and password cracking programs to break into customer premises
equipment-based systems. Hackers continuously dial into the
PBX or telephone equipment and probe the system for a weakness
that will provide access to an outside line. Once an outside
line is obtained, long distance calls are made.
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Unauthorized use of AMIS Analog Networking call delivery.
An intruder uses your system to send an AMIS message or a fax
to a distant number or someone who is already in your system
is making unauthorized calls. The unauthorized usage could be
from an employee, or from someone who has breached your system
security and gained access. To minimize the security risk of
AMIS Analog Networking, restrict the number ranges that can
be used to address messages. Be sure to assign all the appropriate
PBX outgoing call restrictions on the voice ports.
Warning! Toll fraud is a theft of long distance
service. When toll fraud occurs, your organization is responsible
for the charges incurred. Call Avaya's Customer Care Center, 1-800-643-2353
for more information on how to prevent toll fraud.
Detecting Toll Fraud
To detect possible hacker activity on the Message Networking system,
you can use system traffic reports to track system traffic data
over various time periods. Reviewing these reports on a regular
basis helps to establish traffic trends. If increased activity or
unusual usage patterns occur, such as heavy call volume on ports
assigned to outcalling, they can be investigated immediately. You
can also use the Administrator's Log and Activity Log to monitor
usage and investigate possible break-in attempts. For more information
on running and using reports, see Reports.
Unauthorized system use
To minimize the risk of unauthorized break-ins to the system, strictly
follow the compliance guidelines for your voice mail (vm) passwords,
system administration (sa) passwords, trusted server passwords,
and use the password aging feature.
Modular Messaging comes with administrative password features and
options that assist you in securing your system. These include:
-
Changing default administrator password. When
you first get your system, make sure that you change the system
administrator login password immediately.
-
Administrator password standards. You must
follow the minimum password standards to comply with the system's
standards.
-
Administrator password aging. Use the password
aging feature parameters to enhance the security levels of the
system. This will ensure that administration passwords are changed
at regular intervals. You can also use the password expiration
feature for administrative logins to reduce the danger of unauthorized
access.
See Administering passwords for more
information on passwords.
You can ensure additional security by using the Avaya Access Security
Gateway (ASG) guard which is used to provide secure remote access
to the Message Networking system. See
Adjuncts for more information on ASG.
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