Are SIP zombies terrorizing your PBX?
Did I get your attention?
The cyber criminals committing voice fraud ARE coming for you like mindless zombies. What do I mean? If your UC system is connected to a public network such as the Internet, then a fraudster may find it through a scan that sweeps a large IP address range. They’re not necessarily looking for YOUR system; they’re looking for ANYTHING running SIP (brains!!). Once they find it they’ll attempt to compromise it to enable fraudulent calling, and stick you with the bill.
Most of these opportunistic fraudsters are not highly skilled security experts, and they generally use widely available tools. Many of those tools have unique characteristics or “signatures” that make them unique, so they can be differentiated from your normal traffic. The most widely used tool to date has been SIPVicious, and its creator was nice enough to embed “friendly-scanner” in the SIP User-Agent field so it can be identified.