Phone Systems used to Hack ATMs

Automated Teller Machines are vulnerable to phone system attacks which could mean that your cash and passwords are at risk.

The shocking news was discussed at a black hat security conference in Las Vegas with demonstrations of infiltrations against two of the world's biggest ATM makers, Tranax and Triton. Software is used over a phone line to allow in a rootkit and from there the information is easily accessible.

Security Researcher for IOActive, Barnaby Jack, said: "These ATMs need an overhaul, they are not used to concerted hacking attacks in the way that Microsoft is. We need to make up for the fact that a secure methodology has not been put in place and stop the use of jackpotting through phone system hacking techniques."

Triton and Tranax have since fixed the vulnerabilities. Mr Jack has developed Dillinger, named after a famous bank robber, to access ATMs which are connected to telephone systems or the internet. This allows him to find out which ATMs are vulnerable. The system works by dialing lots of phone numbers and the responses which come from ATMs can then be identified.

Mr Jack called on the companies to do a better job of reviewing their codes and operating systems. His demonstration had originally been planned for the previous year but had to be pulled so that the companies could work out how to fix the problems before they were demonstrated.

3CX Goes Gold with RC2 of Phone System 9

This week build 13545 of the Phone System 9 will be available for download.
Existing 3CX users will be automatically sent the link via email.

The 3CX Phone System version 9 gives overall queue stability, improved transfer, protection for direct SIP calls and a recording feature.

This Release Candidate 2 of the 3CX Phone System version 9 has many advantages. They include:

- Auto Provision of free SIP Phone for Android.

- Anti hacking options that include a blacklist and whitelist.

- Spanish language translation and language prompt updates in a number of languages including English, German, French, Italian and Russian.

- A Round Robin Queue option which allows calls to be forwarded to agents on a round robin basis.

-DOS Flood Protection.

- Yealink template for updates to memory keys. This enables users to make multiple calls on the same line.

There are also a number of fixed and added benefits to the 3CX Assistant including better integration, conference calling and a dialog box with full names of the conference participants.

For a full list of benefits visit 3CX.

Build 13545 of the 3CX Phone System version 9 is expected to go 'gold' next week.

Nokia Siemens does $1.2 billion deal with Motorola Inc.

Nokia Siemens has just done a $1.2 billion deal with Motorola Inc. Nokia Siemens will buy wireless network assets from Motorola in order to expand in Japan and North America.
Nokia Siemens’ chief markets operations officer, Bosco Novak, said: “The deal gives strength and growth in the USA and Japan phone systems markets while complementing our wireless technologies portfolio.”
He added that the deal is sealed pending regulatory approval. Nokia Siemens uses GSM standards for its wireless business.
Speaking to Bloomberg, analysts said that the venture would help Nokia Siemens to gain a foothold in North America which has a burgeoning telecoms and phone system market. They also said that the deal would improve the scale and presence of Nokia Siemens in the US.
The deal will add seven and a half thousand employees to the Nokia Siemens payroll, and strengthen ties to the partner companies of Vodafone Group Plc, Sprint Nextel Corp, Verizon Wireless, KDDI Corp and China Mobile Ltd.
However, after the deal was announced Nokia Siemens shares dropped 0.1% in Helsinki. In contrast Motorola shares in America climbed by 5.6%, the largest rise in the last in five months.
Nokia Siemens is the world’s second largest maker of wireless phone systems. Motorola is the fourth largest company in CDMA wireless systems.

Skype and Fring war over phone system apps

The news this week has been full of the griping between Skype and Fring. Essentially Fring created a video calling phone system app to replace Facetime on the iPhone and then got angry when Skype blocked it. Fring creates a variety of VoIP features including cross platform video calling.
The techjournal.com talked about a 'blog war of words'. It said that a "surge in demand that followed the availability of the Fring iOS 4 app, the company’s network was unable to cope. So Skype users trying to access the service using the Skype API were temporarily blocked while it addressed the issue."
Israel's Business Arena Globes reported that Fring has been forced to stop its Skype interconnectivity following a threat of legal action. Skype's lawyers were called into action after "Fring launched mobile video calling on iPhone 4."
Skype denied Fring's claims that an anti-competitive ambush had taken place and said that Fring was using Skype's software in a way that it should not have.

Actor Rob Lowe installs Phone System

Dashing actor and star of the West Wing series Rob Lowe has chosen a VoIP phone system for his California mansion.

Emmy Award nominated Lowe wanted everyone in his family to be able to communicate easily in his new home, including the grounds and pool area. He chose the Panasonic business phone system in order to have high quality DECT cordless phones and desk phones.

Mr Lowe said: “We have had good experiences with Panasonic in the past, so we chose to go with their excellent home and business phone systems, especially as it allows us a great deal of flexibility and multiple extensions.”

Mr Lowe prasied the ease-of-use of the phone system saying that it was simple to set up, with reliability being a key factor. He also liked the fact that the phone system could merge into his existing decor unnoticed.

He added: “With their mobile handsets, Panasonic gives you the freedom to go from room to room. We don’t have to worry about dropped calls and the lines are extremely secure. Furthermore the sound and range are incredible.”

Phone systems are all the range nowadays and are widely used by everyone including organisations, businesses and individuals. Whoever is using them, phone systems can help to cut call costs.

Access the 3CX Phone System v9 RC 1 easily

Dowloading the 3CX Phone System v9 is virtually administration free now and you no longer need an assistant.
Now that the release candidate for the 3CX Phone System v9 is out, it is much easier to deploy the 3CX Assistant and the 3CX Phone to extension users. That's because the 3CX Phone installation and the 3CX Assistant is now integrated into the main 3CX Phone System build.
Extension users will find a link to it in their Welcome email - so setting it up couldn't be easier.
To confirm installation all they need to do is click on the link which will start the set-up and automatically configure 3CX Assistant with the right extension settings.
To save yourself time you can download the new 3CX Assistant installer to the 3CX Phone System Server. From then onwards it will be automatically used for all new installations. Updates are then automatically deployed without requiring re-installation.
3CX also recently released a new SIP Phone for Android users which is free of charge.

Microsoft Phone System Kin Flops in UK

In the all out phone system war between Microsoft, Apple and Google, Microsoft has just lost an important battle.
The pocket-sized Kin phone System was supposed to be an ideal phone for social networking but slow US sales have led to the cancellation of the proposed UK launch.
It is now back to the drawing board for Microsoft which is lagging way behind the success of the iPhone and the Google Android OS for smartphones.
While the Kin wasn't tecnically a smartphone it was built to appeal to youngsters, with enough technology to make Facebook and other social networking sites easily available from the moblie device.
It seems that Microsoft will now focus its efforts on the Windows Phone system, a more complete smartphone with multiple VoIP capabilities. The Kin setback though is sure to hurt Microsoft in what is an ultra-competitive market.