Security Risks Associated With The Remote Access Feature - Lucent Technologies MERLIN LEGEND Release 7.0 System Planning Manual

MERLIN LEGEND Communications System Release 7.0
System Planning 555-670-112
A Customer Support Information
Toll Fraud Prevention
the MERLIN LEGEND Communications System. The MERLIN Mail
MERLIN and MERLIN LEGEND Mail Automated Attendant feature merely
accesses the RCF feature in the MERLIN LEGEND Communications
System. Without these changes being made, this feature is highly
susceptible to toll fraud. These same preventive measures must be taken if
the RCF feature is active for MERLIN LEGEND Communications System
extensions, whether or not it is accessed by an Automated Attendant menu.
Security Risks Associated with the Remote
Access Feature
Remote Access allows the MERLIN LEGEND Communications System owner to
access the system from a remote telephone and make an outgoing call or perform
system administration using the network facilities (lines/trunks) connected to the
MERLIN LEGEND Communications System. Hackers, scanning the public
switched network by randomly dialing numbers with war dialers (a device that
randomly dials telephone numbers, including 800 numbers, until a modem or dial
tone is obtained), can find this feature, which will return a dial tone to them. They
can even employ war dialers to attempt to discover barrier codes.
Preventive Measures
Take the following preventive measures to limit the risk of unauthorized use of the
MERLIN LEGEND Communications System Remote Access feature:
The Remote Access feature can be abused by criminal toll fraud hackers if
it is not properly administered. Therefore, this feature should not be used
unless there is a strong business need.
It is strongly recommended that customers invest in security adjuncts,
which typically use one-time passcode algorithms. These security adjuncts
discourage hackers. Since a secure use of the Remote Access feature
generally offers savings over credit-card calling, the break-even period can
make the investment in security adjuncts worthwhile.
If a customer chooses to use the Remote Access feature without a security
adjunct, then multiple barrier codes should be employed, with one per user,
if the system permits. The MERLIN LEGEND Communications System
permits a maximum of 16 barrier codes.
The maximum length should be used for each barrier code, and should be
changed periodically. Barrier codes, like passwords, should consist of a
random, hard-to-guess sequence of digits. While MERLIN LEGEND
Communications System Release 3.0 permits a barrier code of up to 11
digits, systems prior to Release 3.0 permit barrier codes of up to only four
digits.
If Remote Access is used, an upgrade to MERLIN LEGEND Communications
System Release 3.0 is encouraged to take advantage of the longer barrier code.
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Issue 1
April 1999
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