30 January 2007

NEC to fight phone spam

It's a sad fact of life that email users have become all too familiar with spam. But as email spam has grown, so have the technologies to fight it - namely, filters that can scan and detect email that is likely to be spam and automatically dump it into a junk mail folder.

As email spammers have found it increasing difficult to penetrate junk filters, they have targeted new channels of communication, the most recent being VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) users.

VoIP technology allows phone calls to be made via the internet. VoIP providers, such as Skype, are becoming increasing popular because they offer free calls to other VoIP users, as well as very cheap rates to land lines. As a result, they are particularly popular with people who often call overseas.

VoIP spam, also known as SPIT (Spam over Internet Telephony), fills internet voicemail inboxes with vocal junk messages, offering the same array of annoying products that we have become familiar with in our email inboxes. Since the cost of creating a spam call over the internet is approximately 1000 times less than via traditional phone lines, IP phones act as an easy platform for generating spam calls.

People combating the scourge of VoIP spam, however, will rejoice in the news that Japanese electronics giant NEC has developed a new technology called VoIP SEAL that fights SPIT. The technology is able to identify whether the caller is a genuine human or simply a pre-recorded spam call made by a machine. If the technology determines that a machine has made the call it blocks the connection, preventing the user's phone from ringing. The technology has been built using a modular structure so that it can be easily modified and updated with new add-ons, as spammers will inevitably try to find ways around the block.

NEC say that VoIP SEAL is still being tested and have not yet announced when a commercial product might become available, but have stated that they will be demonstrating the technology at the 2007 3GSM World Congress held this February in Barcelona. However, VoIP SEAL is already being hailed as an important development for the future of internet phone calls because there has been widespread concern that voicemail boxes brimming with illicit spam could hinder the spread of IP phone use.

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