Hackers Can Tap Into Vonage Lines, Says Security Firm

By Ed Oswald | Published October 25, 2007, 12:34 PM

A security firm disclosed Wednesday that a security hole in Vonage's VoIP system could allow an attacker to reroute and effectively hijack phone calls.

"This leaves the Vonage customer subject to spam, social engineering vulnerabilities, and scams," reads a security advisory issued yesterday by Sipera Systems, a relatively unknown VoIP security firm out of Richardson, Texas. The company said it had alerted Vonage to the problem over a month ago, however it never received a response.

While not necessarily a large security threat, the issue still shows that the beleaguered VoIP providers security measures may not be going far enough to ensure that calls made through the service are indeed making it to their intended recipient.

Sipera says it also found problems in services offered by Globe7 and Grandstream, although the Vonage issue affects the most people. Through that, the Vonage Phone Adapter VT 2142-VD is specifically said to have the issue.

Along with the VoIP hijacking issue, an attacker could also send multiple SIP INVITE messages, which would cause an internet version of "ringing the phone off the hook," Sipera said.

"These vulnerabilities create serious privacy and service availability issues for users," Sipera founder and CTO Krishna Kurapati said in a statement. ""Vonage, Globe7 and Grandstream customers can no longer assume that their VoIP providers are automatically securing their services."

With European VoIP provider Globe7, Sipera found holes in its online account access, and Grandstream's HandyTone-488 PSTN-to-VoIP adapter was found to be vulnerable to buffer overflows and fragmented packet attacks.

Comments

View comments by with a score of at least

this company has no luck

Score: 0

|

They have plenty it seems. Too bad it's all bad...

Score: 0

|

Guys, it may indeed seem that way, however, for folks who're old enough (such as me) to remember the early days of what's now known as the IT Industry, Vonage's troubles are just par for the course, don't despair, all will be fine. Good day.

Score: 0

|

yes indeed...it is a sad day for vonage..

Score: 0

|

A real beta process at work: Mozilla fires up Firefox 3.6 Beta 2

In the clearest sign yet that public input really does help the development process, a flurry of bug detections provoked Mozilla to release Beta 2 of the next Firefox.

Snow Leopard and Windows 7 still can't crack the netbook problem

Apple has killed Atom support in OS X 10.6.2 and Windows 7 Starter Edition is stripped of "basic" functionality.

Microsoft's Top 3 advances in Exchange Server 2010

The latest round of changes launched today will impact how admins deliver services to e-mail recipients, and how much companies will pay along the way.

Firefox turns five: Thanks for giving us a choice

Carmi Levy | Wide Angle Zoom: No longer the phoenix rising from the ashes, Mozilla has carried on more than just Netscape's legacy.

Kindle for PC opens in beta, underwhelms

Amazon has opened the beta of Kindle for PC, a companion to the Kindle, but little else.

European ministers approve watered-down 'neutral net' language

The latest provision in the EU's telecoms regulatory framework would let businesses cancel individuals' Internet access, if they go to court first.

It's the US vs. the EU over Oracle+Sun and the meaning of 'open source'

Now that the EU is a virtual country, the US Justice Dept. is taking a stand in favor of its view -- and against the EC's -- that MySQL will survive under Oracle.

Qualcomm: $1.3 billion Samsung licensing deal unrelated to fair trade violations

Samsung has come to a 15-year licensing deal with Qualcomm over 3G and 4G wireless technology.

Nokia's 'limited number' of recalled chargers exceeds 14 million

Today, the Finnish phone maker has begun a recall of mobile phone chargers that are a shock hazard.

Ubuntu 9.10 upgraders report frustration

For those Wine aficionados out there, beware of the remote possibility that your Linux system could be infected by Windows-seeking malware.

Supreme Court considers patentability of abstract methods today

Can software that executes a formula for a business process qualify for federal patents? An appeals court already said no, and inventors are making their case.