Tuesday, June 16, 2009

The Captain's Mates

Philippines - Two Filipinos and a Jordanian national in the Philippines are facing possible extradition to the United States for hacking into the telephone systems of large US corporations and selling the information to Pakistani nationals living in Italy, the United States Department of Justice said over the weekend...

The three are charged with conspiracy to commit wire fraud, two counts of unauthorized access to computer systems and
possession of unauthorized access devices including passcodes to US telephone systems. They each face a 25-year maximum prison sentence and a hefty fine...

...telecom companies lost an estimated $350 million
in stolen revenue as a result of the phreaking syndicate. (more) (more)
(The Captain's story)

Even with "free" VoIP telephone service there is still a niche market ($350 million) for phone phreaks to plunder. In this case, they were selling phone service. Remote eavesdropping is another service. Make sure your business phone systems have been hacker-proofed. The Captain has many, many mates out there. ~Kevin