my customer has a t1 voice service. they want to go back to analog service. verison tells them they are more vulnerable to hacking into the sytem for outside fraud with analog lines. is this true. thanks dave
Well, anyone with a buttset can camp onto POTS lines and draw dialtone or monitor a call in progress.
With a T1 it would be harder in that you would need to be able to demux a full 24 channels for non-ISDN/PRI service or 23 for ISDN/PRI. Such activity requires specialized equipment and is most easily done back in the C.O.
Hack verses intrude. I guess that's really the question. Hacking analog telephone lines would have to be done via connected equipment as the analog telephone company lines are not readily available to computer hacking. T1 and ISDN lines are extremely vulnerable to hacking, provided the hacker has the appropriate equipment.
Intrusion, on the other hand, is quite easy on analog lines. One need not even be in the building where the lines terminate to "butt" into the line. I don't think this is considered hacking, per se, as opposed to computer hacking. T1 and ISDN are nearly impossible to hack, unless, of course, the hacker gets into the telephone system via the T1 or ISDN and finds a path into the system. Technically, the T1 or ISDN is not hacked, but, rather, the phone system is. If the hacker has a mux/demux box, which is available, the hacker can then hack an in service T1 or ISDN. However, this would have to be an onsite hack and would not be discreet.
Let's face it, if someone wants to be malicious, they can be and it's just a matter of degrees as to difficulty. Generally speaking, a T1 or ISDN will offer more security to intrusion than an analog line.
Rcaman
A new scare tactic to generate income.
Big question. Why do they want to tho back to analog service?
And yes, I agree with all the above. It's very easy to plug into the monitor jack on a T-1 DSX field and listen in, channel by channel - but that would be at the CO or the customer's premise. Analog lines - anywhere.
Sam
they had their nortel 824 with vm hacked and calls made to cuba. they have had some problems with the t1 and that is why they are thinking of going back to analog. thanks your all the info. will help with the choice. dave
I'm not sure that a hacked voice mail would warrant switching to analog. For T1 issues, has the service provider been engaged in an attempt to resolve whatever the situation might be?
The only reason I can think of to switch to POTS lines would be if the customer's usage has dropped below the threshold where a dedicated T1 can be cost justified.
^^^What Dex said...
Of course, working with Verizon is always a special kind of pleasure.
they had their nortel 824 with vm hacked and calls made to cuba. they have had some problems with the t1 and that is why they are thinking of going back to analog.
Changing to analog would not preclude this from happening - voicemail security has no relationship to type of trunk. Granted, the calls to Cuba would be higher quality on digital trunk, but it could certainly still happen with analog. If the site doesn't dial international, first step is to simply have carrier block all international calling. You're still vulnerable to calls to countries within the NANP (Carribean island nations) - but they're not quite as wicked. You could have carrier block calls to those area codes.