ABSTRACT
Since 2004, spam over Internet Telephony (SPIT) attack has been officially reported. The first incident was recorded in Japan at a major VoIP provider
Services, Technologies,
called SoftbankBB, with Mio-subscribed customers∗. Actually, spam history started 30 years ago, when the first e-mail spam was sent to 600 addresses. In the late 1970s and early 1980s there was not any real public Internet, and thus the growth of e-mail spam was not as exponential as it is today. Today, there is widespread use of the Internet and, since 2004, there has been significant growth in mass-market VoIP services over broadband Internet access services, in which subscribers make and receive calls as they would over the Plain Old Telephone Service (POTS) or Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN). Thus, due to the current status of the Internet and the penetration of VoIP services, including the foreseeable IP Multimedia Subsystem (IMS) paradigm shift, it is likely we will see SPIT spread rapidly around the world. In fact, it is accepted to happen more sharply in the VoIP world than the e-mail world, since “vishing” attacks, i.e., acquiring sensitive information, such as usernames, passwords and credit card details by masquerading as a trustworthy entity using VoIP services, are expected to increase by 50% during 2008, according to industry reports [1].
