FBI investigates hackers who accessed a town's phone system

"It apparently happens more often than you might think. A group of computer hackers get access to a town's entire phone system and use the access to make overseas calls.

"The latest instance happened in the town of Hillsborough, New Hampshire. Authorities say hackers got into the system and made hundreds of hours worth of calls to countries on six continents.

"Town officials say some of the calls last month reached as far away as Libya, Egypt, Pakistan, Nepal and elsewhere. Because some of the calls involved countries where terrorist groups are known to operate, the town contacted police, the FBI and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. Those agencies are now investigating.

"A professor who teaches about homeland security issues says terrorists often use the Internet to hack into phone systems so they can mask their identities and locations."

Source: WNDU

Everything Old is New Again

FBI: Criminals Auto-dialing With Hacked VoIP Systems

Criminals are taking advantage of a bug in the Asterisk Internet telephony system that lets them pump out thousands of scam phone calls in an hour, the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation warned Friday.

The FBI didn't say which versions of Asterisk were vulnerable to the bug, but it advised users to upgrade to the latest version of the software. Asterisk is an open-source product that lets users turn a Linux computer into a VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) telephone exchange.

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