Truro-based telecommunications provider Datasharp is issuing a warning to local businesses following reports that phone hacking is on the increase in the south west.
According to recent results, 84% of UK businesses are not safe from hacking and it appears the south west is not exempt from this figure.
Datasharp’s technical director, Allan Williams, said: “We are determined to educate as many local businesses as possible on how to help prevent their phones being hacked.
“Telephone hacking is a growing problem whereby unauthorised calls are made by third parties via business communications. Recent results show that more & more businesses are being affected by phone hacking, in some cases the costs are into the thousands of pounds.
“This is largely due to the fact that business are not made aware of, or advised correctly by their current providers on how to prevent this type of fraud.”
According to Datasharp, there are a few simple steps all businesses should follow to help prevent telephone hacking – ensuring that your system is programmed with ‘call barring’ for non-essential Premium Rate and International numbers and ensuring that all users with voicemail change their access password rather than leaving them at the default manufacturer settings.
Williams added: “Telephone hacking is on the increase and businesses should be aware of the risks. Ultimately, businesses need to think of their phone lines the same way they think about their data lines – you wouldn’t connect to the internet without a firewall and the same should apply for voice calls.
“We take our customer security very seriously and would always recommend businesses have a voice firewall in place to enhance their system security-alongside other precautionary measures.”
