geekhut dot org

This must be blogged - all I can say is “Holy Shit!”

An Asterisk box I had set up for a client with ~ 10 extensions was compromised this morning at about 12 AM… and they really did a number on it.  I apologize if you were a victim of this attack however there was really no way of telling it was happening until it was too late.

Over 2000 “phishing” calls were placed over the past 20 hours, majority of them during extremely late hours and to only a small group of numbers - meaning a lot of repeat calls…  My inbox quickly filled with pissed off voicemails from Texas residents - once the server was taken down.

Now a DDOS attack is bad, but can generally be fixed - A web site’s content being compromised is worse - but when hundreds of people are being called late a night asking for their VISA card numbers : That’s a tragedy!

I have taken down the server and have a feeling it was compromised via the Flash Operator Panel which no one ever uses, but the last logs were not cleared and the bash history looked like mine - so it must have been some type of web based attack.  I am downloading the VM to test locally so I can figure out exactly what happened and why, so it will never happen again.

A word of warning to people hosting any type of streaming application / telephony service - LOCK DOWN your shit to the max! A website is visited by choice - a phone call while you are asleep is intrusion, BE CAREFUL!

On a positive note - VoipYourLife is a super wicked VoIP provider for home / business - they had no problem shelling out 2000 calls in < 20 hours - I strongly recommend them!

Hacks Asterisk, Hell, VoIP

Last night while reading through some interesting articles at nerdvittles.com I stumbled upon a wicked little Asterisk PHPAGI script for web initialized inbound calling with Callback and DISA.

I added a form to the code because it was basic and only accepted phone numbers from the GET  string however it pretty much works perfectly out of the box.  What it does is allow you to enter a phone number in a input box and passes it to a custom extension that calls the number with a dial tone.

With any free incoming cell phone plan, you can imagine how much money you can save - especially with long distance!

Link to original code. 

Very cool!

Hacks, How-To Asterisk, SIP, VoIP

A while back I wanted to configure my PBX to tell me which menu item was selected in my IVR before I answered, so I knew how to greet the caller. So I set up queues on my asterisk system and realized that people were forced to listen to hold music instead of ringing.

Recently one of my customers commented on my horrible hold music and how they had to hear the same gut wrenching tune every time they called me. [It is that bad world-beat.mp3 that comes with a stock Trixbox install]. So I decided to look for some royalty free or “open source” hold music.

A quick search on google presented about a trillion results of which required me to pay for most of the music or sign up… I refined my search and google adwords ended up spotting me exactly what I was looking for. I found this collection of 8 wav files that are wickedly hilarious for hold music and just a little more entertaining that the stock Trixbox ones, I still had to give them my email address but I am willing to take a load of spam for the sanity of my clients.

The music is still horrible but at least it is funny, I am excited to hear that customers reaction when she hears my new playlist.

Uncategorized Asterisk, Music, VoIP

This is a sweet little trick you can pull to basically never have to worry about outrageous cell phone billing again.

I personally haven’t owned a cell phone in years, I found it to be very expensive and I would usually end up being forced to pay for services I never used. Now those you have an IPhone, skip right past this article because we know you are Jesus and don’t have to worry about voice rates. But for those of you either stuck in a contract or need to call long distance, this hack is for you!

The Idea

These services used to be offered years ago (and I am sure still exist) - where you would call a number and it would hang up and call you right back with a dial tone - allowing you to make a free outbound call from a service called DISA (Direct Inward System Access)

This is a spectacular idea for cell phone plans with unlimited inbound calls, however, when using this service you’d still have to pay the DISA company for outbound termination. Now a ton of cellular companies still offer a no-catch unlimited inbound calls plan so why not exploit the service and DIY - with Asterisk!

This is something you can do from home, it will cost you as little as 9 dollars a month (for unlimited calling) and about 3 dollars extra in hydro expenses (if you pay hydro). You will be able to have as many phone numbers / extensions as you want and can use it from home / work / across the world.

So here is what you do :

• Sign up with a VoiP company you’ve done your research on - I use Voip Your Life ($25 / Month) -horrible for tech support, however they do not care how many inbound / outbound concurrent calls you make - this number is limited by your total bandwidth - plus they work great with this system.
• Visit your local recycling centre and ask to pick up an old computer - look for one with a closed case, anything should do. If they say no - come back with some garbage and heist one or two on your way out. Dumpster diving for second hand computer hardware can be a lot of green fun - I will write about this later.
• Download and install Trixbox CE and install it on your newly acquired system - if you need help, there are about half a million google results as to how to get this running. Or read Trixbox Without Tears.
• Configure your Trunk, IVR, Inbound Routes, Outbound Routes, DISA and finally your Callback.

So after some reading / playing - youll see that you can call into your system and will be presented with an IVR - interactive voice response menu. You can then program a top secret menu button that will hang up on you and call you back! Once you are called back, you will be asked for a password - the one you set in your DISA configuration. Once you have authenticated yourself you will hear a dial tone. Go ahead and make a call from your free inbound call to anywhere in the United States / Canada without tieing up your home phone

FAQ

Q. That seems like a lot of work - plus I still have to pay my cell phone bill!

A. The point is to use the $10 - $25 monthly VoiP bill for you home use too, many voip companies can port your existing number for free. You also downgrade your cell plan to the lowest rate you possibly can and simply add your home phone number to speed dial.

Q. I got the computer with Trixbox installed, but I can’t place a call.

A. Most likely a firewall issue - set the box with a static IP and forward ports 5004 - 5060 TCP (For SIP) and 10000 - 20000 UDP (for RTP) - or just DMZ the damn thing to get started - fix it later. That or you misconfigured your Trunk / Outbound Routes. The free book mentioned above can help you solve any Trixbox Issues.

Q. Why would you do all this shit when you can just buy an IPhone?

A. Because Google Adsense hasn’t bought me one yet… shutup.

How-To Cell, Savings, VoIP

Impulse buying is a bad thing, but I had no choice because no one has yet written an in depth review on this device and I really REALLY wanted it. I bought it from voipsupply because I have done a lot of business with them in the past and they always make me a happy camper.

The Phone

$164.99

Remember, this is only my opinion…

So we will start with the Cons

• Horrible wireless range, 60 feet indoor max!
• Outdoor quality suffers greatly, I have yet to be able to terminate a clear enough connection outdoors to even check my voicemails.
• Battery life is puss, 4 hours maximum talk time, 60 hour standby (without roaming)
• Wireless roaming takes FOREVER and usually fails to connect to AP… in TORONTO!
• GUI looks like the first full colour Nokia back in 1988…
• Intermittent restart, maybe new firmware fix soon?
• No Radius (web authentication) support == no Cogeco WIFI, this is a bad thing!

Enough negative stuff, here are the Pros

• When you actually can connect to a solid AP, voice quality is PERFECT.
• Integrates beautifully with any asterisk powered appliance / server.
• Great call features support including three transfer modes and voicemail notification.
• Great PDF documentation and very easy to configure.
• Web interface for simplified configuration and TFTP provisioning!
• Decent Email and Asterisk command texting, emails are somewhat difficult to read on that little screen.
• Save $$$ monthly on telecommunications.

The Verdict

Great for any geek who is generally stationary for several hours at a time and doesn’t mind configuring a new AP everywhere he / she goes. Also OK in big cities where AP’s and Starbucks are a plenty. Also fun to show off to your friends when you call a California number from New York on your “cell phone”.

This device is not for the non-tech-savvy, it’s just not yet polished enough. Grandma wouldn’t know whether to bury it in the garden or feed it to the squirrels. But that doesn’t mean people can’t learn to use it, simply put : most people are just too lazy to learn something new.

Product Reviews SIP, VoIP, Wireless