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- Date: Wed, 21 Oct 92 11:03:12 -0400
- From: bx981@CLEVELAND.FREENET.EDU(Larry Schilling)
- Subject: File 7--XIOX's Anti-Phone-Fraud Products (Press Release)
-
- XIOX'S FORT KNOX PRODUCTS COMBAT PHONE FRAUD
- EXPERIENCED BY U.S. BUSINESSES
-
- NEW YORK (OCT. 20) BUSINESS WIRE - Xiox' Fort Knox line of products is
- aimed directly at reducing the estimated $4 billion of losses to
- telephone service theft experienced by American businesses each year.
-
- And they are the first products that combat telephone "hacking"
- without requiring businesses to shut off vulnerable PBX features.
-
- According to John Hough, noted phone fraud expert and author of "Toll
- Fraud and Telabuse," business losses from telephone fraud, or
- "hacking," are estimated at $4 billion per year.
-
- Hough, chairman of Telecommunications Advisors Inc. (a Portland, Ore.
- consulting firm), indicates that the average loss per incident to
- users exceeds $90,000. Hough's firm estimates that more than 35,000
- users will become victims of toll fraud in 1992.
-
- Xiox estimates that every business has a one in 18 chance of being
- hacked. The implications for security, however serious they may be in
- terms of stolen service costs, become even more formidable when the
- risk to a company's data is factored in. Many organizations' computer
- systems are accessible through the telephone lines, and their computer
- data is only as secure as their phone system.
-
- In addition to creating enormous business losses, hackers have forced
- businesses to shut off valuable and convenient features such as Direct
- Inward System Access (DISA), Remote System Access, home agent
- connections and remote diagnostics lines.
-
- All these PBX features became access paths to hackers, who re-sell the
- illegally-obtained services. Businesses experience further "hidden
- losses" because they can't use the telephone for critical purposes.
-
- "Fort Knox products are the most straightforward and economical
- approach I've seen to enable users to keep their telephone systems
- both 'open and secure,'" said Ed Freyermuth, telecom manager for
- PacTel/Meridien Systems.
-
- One of the Fort Knox products, Hacker Tracker, gives users the ability
- to track and trap hackers, opening up the possibility of apprehending
- them.
-
- "Hackers have proliferated over the past ten years, possibly because
- of their connection to the illegal drug trade," said Wanda
- Gamble-Braggs, manager of Systems Integrity, Western Division of MCI.
-
- "Unlike most crimes, they leave no evidence and are at little risk of
- being caught. The approach to security taken by the Xiox system is
- the first one that MCI has seen that gives the user some hope of
- catching the criminal instead of becoming the next victim."
-
- The Fort Knox family of anti-hacker products includes:
-
- -- Hacker Preventer, an automated, intelligent system that senses
- deviation from "normal" telephone usage and cuts off access to
- hacking attempts. It incorporates proprietary hardware- and
- software-based technology which attaches to the user's PBX. Price:
- $10,000 to $28,000, depending on the size of the system needing
- protection.
-
- -- Hacker Tracker is a specialized recording and reporting system
- incorporating proprietary software for tracking and trapping hackers.
- Price: $2,195.
-
- -- Hacker Deadbolt is a proprietary hardware and software system
- providing protection for remote maintenance and testing ports of a
- PBX, voice mail system and other telephone equipment on the customer's
- premises. It can be upgraded to become Hacker Preventer. Price:
- $1,295.
-
- These products may be purchased separately or together. When
- installed, the Xiox Fort Knox products become an intelligent agent for
- monitoring all telecommunications traffic in and out of a system.
-
- "At Solectron, we've analyzed the risk of being hacked," commented
- Dave Tichener, telecom manager for Solectron Inc. "The Fort Knox
- system represents a very reasonably-priced insurance policy, compared
- to the potential loss."
-
- All Fort Knox anti-hacker products are immediately available.
-
- CONTACT: Xiox Corp.
- Michael O'Connell, 415/375-8188, ext. 228
- or
- Oak Ridge Public Relations, Cupertino, Calif.
- Ford Kanzler, 408/253-5042
-
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