Can your phone system be hacked? Yes!

Does your phone system have an automated attendant and/or voice mail?
Does your phone system allow out-of-the-country calls?

If your answer is either "Yes" or "I don't know" to these questions, you should take a few minutes RIGHT NOW to check your phone system or you could someday be liable for thousands of dollars in long distance charges.

Phone hackers systematically search for an automated phone system. (You may have a live operator or receptionist answer the phone during the day, but isn't it a different story after hours?) When they find one, they methodically search for voice mail boxes and the passcodes to those voice mail boxes, one of which may be yours. Right? The one with the passcode 1234 or 0000? Or extension 3340 with passcode 3340?

The hackers have time on their side, because most businesses are closed more hours than open. Long stretches of night and weekend hours give phone hackers plenty of time to try hundreds or thousands of combinations before they hit the jackpot. And, after succeeding, there's plenty of time for phone calls.

How about an $8000 jackpot over a single weekend? That's the cost of long distance calls a two-person accounting firm faced recently. Most of the calls were to Pakistan and Iran. Some were to former Soviet republics. All were very far away.

So here are some action recommendations:

(1) Require your staff to use "strong" passwords, preferably six or more digits.
(2) Disallow or restrict outgoing international calls if possible.
(3) Delete old, unused or unnecessary mailboxes.
(4) Safeguard all "superuser" or main system passwords and change them frequently.
(5) Ask your long distance vendor about restrictions they may be able to impose.
(6) Review phone traffic from time-to-time.