Although modem hijacking (also known as “modem jacking”) is not entirely new, New York State is set to become the first state to outlaw the practice. Modem jacking is when someone hijacks your modem and uses it to make long distance (usually international) telephone calls, or calls to premium phone numbers, such as 900 numbers, which, of course, are charged to you.
“But Aunty,” you ask, “surely modem hijacking is only possible with a dial-up telephone line modem, and nobody uses those any more, do they?”
Well, apparently enough people still use them to move the state of New York to outlaw the practice! And there are still plenty of people who use the dial-up modems in their laptops when travelling. In fact, a Verizon spokesperson has confirmed that just this month Verizon is looking into complaints of modem jacking.
So what can you do to avoid modem hijacking?…
One way to avoid modem jacking is to have a special telephone line which you use only for your modem, and which you have limited so that it can only make local calls, ever.
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Windows users also have a second option, in the form of software called “StopItNow!”, which is a software designed specifically to thwart would-be modem hijackers. It’s only $16.95 USD, and is available from StopItNow.com.au.
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This is nice that you are warning people about this practice . . . but it would be much more informative if you included info as to how this is done (virus infection?). How is one to avoid this? I don’t think that having a “special” phone line or discontinuing your long distance service is a rational fix to avoid this type of attack on your PC. – just my opinion.
Here try this URL from PC Mag to lean more . . .
You don’t have to get a special phone line.Just discontnue your long distance service and use a calling card for long distance. Then long distance calls can only be made via the card.You can still receive long distance calls.The card is probably cheaper than the long distance company too.
Can modems be hijacked via hi-speed internet connections? That is, can the bad buys find their way down the “pipe”, across my motherboard and jack my modem?
Zone Alarm and other decent firewalls won’t alert you?