Voicemail Password Security - America's Phone Guys in Portland OR Vancouver WA

Although there has been much publicity over the negative consequences associated with
easy to guess voicemail passwords, many businesses do not heed the valuable advice to
implement policies that require the creation of difficult passwords. Research shows that
hackers are persistent in finding ways to take advantage of those with simple and
common voicemail passwords. Predators that are able to gain access to poorly secured
voicemail boxes can access the messages and have the ability to listen, forward, and
delete the voicemails. Even worse, businesses that do not take the proper precautions in
securing their voicemail boxes are vulnerable to hackers that can commit international
calling fraud which can end up costing your business thousands of dollars.

In addition, once a hacker has access to your voicemail they will also have the ability to
accept collect calls from around the globe. Furthermore, the hacker can manipulate the
voicemail box to direct voicemail notifications to another phone number keeping the
owner of the voicemail in the dark about the fraud.

Small business are at an increased risk of international calling fraud via voicemail
hacking as often times they are not strictly regulating the security of their phone systems
as they typically use local phone carriers that do not offer fraud calling protection
services. Commonly, hackers will rack up international phone bills over a weekend when
most businesses are closed making it increasingly difficult to detect the fraud before the
significant and expensive damage is done.

Some businesses have experienced horrifying consequences as a result of international
calling fraud. There have been cases where small business phone bills have surpassed six-
figures over a two day weekend. There are currently no laws that protect small businesses
from this type of fraud. Should your business fall victim to such an attack, you will be
liable to pay the bill and this is more often true with local carriers than national carriers.
The following are tips in how to keep your business’ voicemail boxes secure from
potential threats:

  • Require all business related voicemail accounts to have 12 character passwords
    that are uncommon and incorporate special characters
  • Require all employees to change their passwords on a regular basis
  • Turn off call forwarding
  • Examine telephone records regularly, especially during weekend dates
  • Deactivate all business related voicemail accounts that are not in use
  • Provide information to all staff on potential risks for scams associated with
    unsecure voicemail boxes
  • Prohibit long distance phone calls from office phones. In the case of international
    calling fraud, this will be easy to detect if a voicemail is hacked and used for long
    distance calling

Is your VoiceMail password easy to guess?  in Portland OR - Vancouver WA - Oregon Coast

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