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Is There Something Sinister About Caller Id Spoofing?
By Rito Salomone, Sat Dec 10th
Spoofing refers to the ability to disguise the originatingcaller identification number when placing a telephone call. Thecalling party may select an alias or dummy number to appear onthe called party telephone display.
Proponents of this technology laud its uses for law enforcementand private investigators. They claim the technology protectsagents from being discovered in undercover operations. Agentscan freely make pretext calls to criminal elements by usingcaller ID spoofing. A pretext call is one that allows lawenforcement to solicit information over the telephone byrepresenting themselves as someone else.
Caller ID spoofing is now marketed by a number of websites toany business or individual who wishes to subscribe to theservice. Individuals can hide or mask the call origin withwhatever number they desire. This guarantees anonymity.Collection agencies or government tax agencies often find itdifficult to reach defaulters. This service could help thesecompanies contact an individual using call screening.
Critics of the caller ID spoofing claim that using this VoIPphone service makes it easy for scam artists to make it appearthat they are calling from another phone number.
Jokesters could masquerade their caller ID as The Oval Office,Ed McMahon or Paris Hilton. Hackers and con artists couldutilize spoofing to break into unsecured voice mail boxes thatrely on caller identification for authentication. For example,Secure Science Corporation discovered that hackers could usecaller ID spoofing
to break into the voice mailboxes of over 15million subscribers of wireless service provider T-Mobile. Thecompany scrambled to add an optional pin code authentication tothwart tampering.
Criminal elements could utilize caller ID spoofing to reversethe tables on law enforcement, harass victims and break intointeractive voice response systems that use the caller's phonenumber as authentication. A child molester could contact a homeand disguise number as a parent's work number. An alarm companyor emergency response dispatch could be contacted and reassuredof false alarm by a burglar breaking into a premise.
Methods and kits on how to emulate and display spoofed caller IDmessages are now available on the Internet. Anyone with ageneral understanding of the concept and a compatible modem canconstruct a device that will provide caller ID spoofing.
In the end, caller ID spoofing, like any other technology doeshave some merit especially for law enforcement. However thistechnology is very easy to use unethically and perhapscriminally. The lesson here is don't trust caller id display. Ifyou are unsure of the caller id information of a suspiciouscaller, take the number down, return the call or alertauthorities.
About the author:Rito Salomone is the president of Resource SoftwareInternational Ltd. (RSI). He has 17 years experience in thefield of communication management solutions.
For more information you can review: http://www.telecost.com orcontact the author at rsalomone@telecost.com.
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