NEC has announced that they have developed a new tool in the fight against spam over VoIP. The new technology, called VoIP Seal, aims to defend against the growing amount of VoIP spam. Spam over Internet Telephony (SPIT) is a growing concern for companies who use the popular Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) technology in their company environment.
VoIP Seal has three major components that allow the new technology to work. The first will target calls originating from spam-generating software and those originated from a real human. The calls are separated by a Turing test. VoIP Seal will detect and block the spam based on communication patterns observed during the call. This will enable detection and blocking of SPIT. If a spam-related call comes in, VoIP Seal will prevent the phone from ringing.
The second feature is the adoption of a module structure, enabling a rapid response to new SPIT attacks and removing the need to adjust the system. Modules will be added and adjusted according to need.
The third and final feature works with the module structure. The allowance for a broad range of applications in the module structure enables easy customization of various systems to meet the need of a variety of hardware, such as SIP servers and SBC, as well as home network equipment or terminal equipment.
NEC said that the cost of IP phones has gone down, and because of that, there has been an increase in the volume of spam-generated calls. It’s cheaper to make spam calls with IP phones than it is with land-based phone systems.
“As a result, the existing infrastructure for producing spam e-mails (so called "botnets") can easily be modified to also produce spam telephone calls. Today, the number of spam emails is higher than the number of regular emails produced jointly by all of the users in the internet. If unsolicited marketing and spam calls become as frequent as spam email, constantly-ringing VoIP phones may hinder the spread of their use.” –NEC Corporation
NEC will be at the 3GSM World Congress 2007, taking place in Barcelona, Spain from February 12 - 15 (hall 8, booth 8A125).
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