VOIP will be next hacker targetsays Symantec

The biannual Symantec Threat Report identified Voice over IP (Voip) systems as a technology starting to interest hi-tech criminals.

The report predicted that within 18 months, Voip will start to be used as a "significant" attack vector. As well as prompting new attacks, Voip could also resurrect some old hacking techniques, warned the report.
It is estimated that over the next 12 to 18 months VoIP will be receiving a "significant" number of attacks. It is feared that security threats will include voice phishing, in which customers are convinced to give away personal information, audio spasm that block voicemail boxes, denial of service (DoS) attacks and call hi-jacking that re-directs calls to criminals.
Ollie Whitehouse, researcher for Symantec Research Labs warned: "While there are currently very few reported attacks directed at Voip systems, Symantec believes it's only a matter of time before attackers target it more intensely, as this new communication technology gains widespread acceptance and deployment." Presently there are 52 million users of Skype VoIP alone, which is predicted to grow to 160 million by the end of next year. track