Cisco rushing to fix broken VoIP patch

A vulnerability in its VoIP phones which could enable hackers to eavesdrop on conversations is proving doubly troublesome for Cisco Systems.

The company said a patch it made to fix the problem is not working so it sent a team to work on a permanent patch and Cisco will soon issue a security advisory and detailed mitigation report on the issue later this week, a spokesperson said.
Ang Cui a, doctoral candidates and computer science professor Salvatore Stolfo, of Columbia University’s engineering department both discovered the vulnerability. While analyzing Unix-like firmware inside Cisco phones, they found that by tampering with a subset of Cisco’s unified IP phones it was possible to eavesdrop on private conversations.
RELATED CONTENT

The phones which could be compromised are the 7900 series running a version of Cisco IP Phone software up to and including the 9.3.1-ES10.

Users of the hacked phone would have no inkling their conversation is being monitored and the attackers can also remotely turn up the device’s microphone to pick up sounds in the vicinity of the phone, the researchers said.

Read the whole story here.

Would you recommend this article?

Share

Thanks for taking the time to let us know what you think of this article!
We'd love to hear your opinion about this or any other story you read in our publication.


Jim Love, Chief Content Officer, IT World Canada

Featured Download

Featured Articles

Cybersecurity in 2024: Priorities and challenges for Canadian organizations 

By Derek Manky As predictions for 2024 point to the continued expansion...

Survey shows generative AI is a top priority for Canadian corporate leaders.

Leaders are devoting significant budget to generative AI for 2024 Canadian corporate...

Related Tech News

Tech Jobs

Our experienced team of journalists and bloggers bring you engaging in-depth interviews, videos and content targeted to IT professionals and line-of-business executives.

Tech Companies Hiring Right Now