Hackers with a Vonage subscriber's name and phone number could intercept Internet phone calls by exploiting a weakness in the system, according to security firm Sipera Systems. Vonage spokesman Charles Sahner declined comment on Sipera's findings. Sipera said that it informed Vonage of the problem more than a month ago but that Vonage had not responded. Vonage, which has almost 2.5 million customers, was a pioneer in the business of selling low-cost phone services that use the Internet to connect calls instead of traditional phone wires.
While crooks have been long been able to hack into traditional phone lines, they've had to physically tap into telephone wires to do so. Without proper security measures, Internet phone providers risk exposing their customers to such attacks from afar as hackers use the Web to access their networks, said Krishna Kurapati, founder and chief technology officer of Sipera. "This guy could be in Russia and Vonage thinks it's John Smith. People think they're calling John Smith and instead they get this guy," he said.
