Alec Saunders SquawkBox

BusinessWeek reports that NEC has been raising the alarm on spam over VoIP, otherwise known as SPIT (spam on Internet Telephony).  Some estimates place the potential volume of SPIT as high as 40% to 70% of all calls. 

iotum, of course, was engineered with this in mind. A trivial use case for the iotum Relevance Engine is to compare the incoming callers identity to a list of known callers, and simply block callers which are unknown. We have experienced a new kind of SPIT attack recently, however, which spoofs the caller ID with the users own extension number.  Someone has been leaving two and four minute long jokes in our voicemail boxes…   

SPIT levels may not reach the 70% levels that NEC is predicting, but those who claim that it isn’t an issue are deluding themselves.  It’s out there. 

Dan York asks whether SPIT is any different from telemarketing, because if it isn’t, then why differentiate?  My take is that IP telephony can lower the costs of telemarketing, which potentially makes it a more attractive medium for advertisers.  More importantly, though, the potential exists for rampant abuse with IP based "auto-dialers" and recorded messages.  Imagine a world where thousands of recorded messages are delivered near instantaneously to IP accessible voice mail boxes.  That’s the threat behind SPIT.  It’s years away, though.  The majority of the population would have to be on VoIP already for it to be truly cost effective.  

Don’t try this at home: Spoofing Caller ID with Asterisk. 

SPIT.  It’s coming.  ‘Nuff said. 

It’s really remarkable the complete and utter tripe that some "news" organizations will publish.  The object of my disdain today is the Vancouver Sun.  Writer Gillian Shaw has published one of the silliest, and most hysterical pieces on phone spam that one could imagine.  Titled "Phone spam a security risk", it purports to be about the risk of unwanted cellular calls, but then does a sharp right turn onto the bogeyman of Spam on Internet Telephony (SPIT).  Take this excerpt for instance…

"You could get calls with the wrong number, calls to sell sex toys, you may even get calls in the middle of the night because someone can hit the Send button and put out 50,000 calls."

Even more disturbing, videophones can deliver a virtual version of the intruder right into your home.

"If they’re calling your daughter and there is a naked man out there coming up on the screen, one call is one too many," said Pais.

You might see a naked man on your video phone… and how many people own video phones, again, George Jetson?

In Oh SPIT! Security Woes Hit VoIP Too, MSNBC provides a more balanced approach.  Essentially, they argue that VoIP security issues are just like the web security issues of today.  And yes, they go off the deepend again on SPIT.  SPIT is going to be an issue, no doubt.  And there will be a technical solution to that problem as well, no doubt.