GB2405287A

GB2405287A - A telecommunications service access control method

Info

Publication number: GB2405287A
Application number: GB0319564A
Authority: GB
Inventors: Bart Reynaert
Original assignee: Siemens AG
Current assignee: Siemens AG
Priority date: 2003-08-20
Filing date: 2003-08-20
Publication date: 2005-02-23
Also published as: GB0319564D0

Abstract

In order to prevent malicious accessing of a telecommunications service such as call forwarding a person accessing the service is required to enter a personal identification number or PIN. In doing this a network identity is held in memory and if a predetermined security event occurs such as the incorrect PIN being entered more than a predetermined number of times the network identity is retrievable. Thus, the terminal used for the possibly malicious attempt to access the service is identified.

Description

1 2405287 A telecommunications service access control method This

invention relates to a telecommunications service access control method.

It is now possible for a subscriber to access telecommunications services from a terminal other than his or her own. This is useful where the subscriber is travelling or working from a different location for example.

A problem with this is that it is also possible to non-authorised persons to attempt to use the services at the subscriber's expense. To counter this possibility it is known to require a Personal Identification Number (PIN) to be entered before the services are provided. A number of attempts are usually allowed to cater for mistakes by the true subscriber before the call is terminated. However, it is then possible for another series of attempts to be made.

It will be appreciated that some services are expensive to subscribe to and are thus of sufficient value to a fraudster for the fraudster to persist until successful. The network operator will often write of the cost of such a fraud for the sake of maintaining goodwill with the subscriber. Thus the effects of such fraudulent use can have a significant financial impact.

According to the invention there is provided a telecommunications service access control method comprising accepting a call from a network terminal having a network identity which call attempting to access a service; storing the network identity; initializing a security step as a condition of providing the service; monitoring the security step and when a predetermined security condition occurs providing the network operator the stored network identity.

By storing the network identity and providing it to the network operator after a predetermined security condition has occurs it is possible to determine the network terminal from which the access attempt was made. Thus if the security condition is one which indicates an unauthorised or fraudulent attempt to access the services it is possible to provide the terminal identifier to the authorities for action or for the network operator to take action directly.

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The network identifier may be the terminal's telephone number, the Anumber or some other identifier.

The security step may involve the entry of a character such as a number or letter or other symbol from the terminal or a spoken command. In the specific embodiment, a personal identification number or PIN is requested and the user of the network terminal enters the number on the terminal's keypad. If the wrong number is entered a predetermined number of times then the predetermined security condition occurs.

A specific embodiment of the invention will now be described with reference to the drawings in which: Figure 1 shows a telecommunications system operating in accordance with the invention.

As is shown in figure 1, a telecommunications system 1 comprises two or more local telephone system 3 and 4 linked over the public switched telephone network 5. The local telephone system 3 comprise a number of terminals 6, 7 and 8, a local exchange 9, a carrier switch 10 and associated carrier switch controller 11 and memory 12.

The terminals 6 to 8 are able to access services such as call forwarding. In the call forwarding service call destined for say terminal 6 may be directed to another terminal such as 8 in a different part of the building served by the local telephone exchange or indeed to terminals in other parts of the network. In this way a user may ensure that he or she need not miss calls when working at another desk.

In order to prevent mischievous or malicious forwarding of the calls by non- authorised persons a personal identification number (PIN) is required to modify or activate the call forwarding service. The use of a PA is known in existing systems.

The use of a PIN is helpful but unfortunately does not offer complete security. With some persistence a number of attempts may be made to access the system and eventually the correct combination of numbers derived.

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À:. ... À:e.. - : : À - À . In this system, a number of incorrect attempts at the PIN entry are allowed. However, if the number of attempts exceeds a preset number which in the preferred embodiment is five then the identification of the calling terminal being used for the PIN entry is supplied to the network operator.

Let us suppose that terminal 13 is being used for the attempt at call forwarding to direct calls from terminal 7 to terminal 13. The connection is established across the local network 4, the network 5, the carrier switch 10 and to the local exchange 9 serving the terminal 7 in a manner well known to a person skilled in the art.

In the course of establishing the connection an identifier which in this case is that referred to in the art as an "A side number" is transmitted to the carrier switch 10.

The identifier is stored by the switch controller 11 in the memory 12. With the call established to the local telephone exchange 9 the user then inputs the required command to enter the call forwarding service and a PIN number. If after three attempts the input PIN is wrong then the call is terminated. The local telephone exchange 9 then creates a flag to indicate that the predetermined security condition has occurred and the network operator can retrieve from the memory 12 the A side number.

In some embodiments of the invention, the retrieval of the identifier may take place in an automatic way and the identifier may be stored at different nodes in the network.

The identifier may be provided to the authorised user of the terminal along with an indication that the security condition has been occurred. The user may retrieve this information when they next use their usual terminal either by logging on to a user account or by the local exchange 9 producing a different dialling tone to the normal one.

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Claims

Claims 1. A telecommunications service access control method comprising

accepting a call from a network terminal having a network identity which call attempting to access a service; storing the network identity; initialising a security step as a condition of providing the service; monitoring the security step and when a predetermined security condition occurs providing the network operator the stored network identity.
2. A telecommunications method as claimed in claim l wherein the network identifier is an A side number.
3. A telecommunications method as claimed in claim 1 or claim 2 wherein the security step includes an input of personal identification number.
4. A telecommunications method as claimed in claim 3 wherein the predetermined security condition occurs when the personal identification number has been incorrectly input a predetermined number of times.
5. A telecommunications service access control method substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to and as illustrated by the drawing.

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