VoIP the Next Spam Battleground?

January 29th, 2007: With the rise of free internet telephony, the fight against spam isn’t limited to inboxes anymore. Fortunately, NEC has come up with some new gear to stop IP spam in its tracks.

Spam over Internet Telephony (or SPIT) attacks are steadily increasing in frequency, and while they may not be plaguing VoIP users like they do everyone on earth via email, NEC sees VoIP as the next big spam arena.

Due to this, the company is kicking off the fight early with VoIP SEAL, new software that NEC says separates real calls from spam calls using a Turing test. The test analyses communication patterns observed before putting a call through and filters out spam before it can ring through to the recipient.

By carrying out attacks on its software, NEC claims that 99 percent of SPIT attacks can be eliminated with VoIP SEAL. And while VoIP spam may still be in its infancy, NEC says that thanks to its modular construction, VoIP SEAL will be able to respond to SPIT attacks as they evolve.

The company will be showing off its solution at next month’s 3GSM World Congress in Barcelona, Spain.

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