Prevention of voice over IP spam

• US 8,121,114 B2
• Filed: 02/12/2009
• Issued: 02/21/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 02/12/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Cisco Technology, Inc. (Cisco Systems, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Cisco Technology, Inc. (Cisco Systems, Inc.)
• Inventors: Rosenberg, Jonathan David, Jennings, Cullen F.
• Primary Examiner(s): Sam, Phirin
• Application Number:
  US12/370,384
• Publication Number:
  US 20100202439A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,104 Days
• Field of Search: None
• US Class Current: 370/352
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/0807 using tickets, e.g. Kerberos cryptographic mechanisms or cryptographic arrangements for entity authentication using tickets or tokens H04L9/3213
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/1079 of unsolicited session attempts, e.g. SPIT
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2203/2005 Temporarily overriding a service configuration
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/436 Arrangements for screening incoming calls , i.e. evaluating the characteristics of a call before deciding whether to answer it based on the calling party profile H04M3/42059; based on location H04M3/42348; based on presence H04M3/42365; diversion H04M3/54

Abstract

In one embodiment, a system is provided to prevent VoIP spam. The system may store call data that is associated with a call to a phone number made over a Public Switched Telephone Network. Subsequently, the system may accept an Internet Protocol telephony connection in response to verification of a demonstrated knowledge of the call. The demonstrated knowledge of the call may be verified based on the call data.

Claims

1. A system comprising:

a memory; and

a processor in communication with the memory, the memory including computer code executable with the processor, wherein the computer code is executable to;

store call data, wherein the call data is associated with a first call to a phone number over a Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN);

issue a ticket for a second call in response to a verification based on the call data that an Internet Protocol (IP) telephony client is in possession of a demonstrated knowledge of the first call made over the PSTN; and

accept an Internet Protocol (IP) telephony connection for the second call from the IP telephony client in response to a validation of the ticket.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the IP telephony connection is a Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) connection.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein the computer code is further executable to:

verify the IP telephony client is in possession of the demonstrated knowledge of the first call made over the PSTN based on the call data; and

transmit the ticket to the IP telephony client in response to the verification that the IP telephony client is in possession of the demonstrated knowledge of the first call made over the PSTN.

4. The system of claim 3, wherein the computer code is further executable to:

receive the ticket from the IP telephony client.

5. The system of claim 1, wherein the computer code is further executable to verify the IP telephony client is in possession of the demonstrated knowledge of the first call through a shared-secret based protocol, and the demonstrated knowledge of the first call made over the PSTN is a shared secret.

6. The system of claim 5, where the shared-secret based protocol is the Transport Layer Security (TLS) Secure Remote Password (SRP) protocol.

7. The system of claim 1, wherein the computer code is further executable to verify the IP telephony client is in possession of the demonstrated knowledge of the first call through receipt of the demonstrated knowledge of the first call from the IP telephony client.

8. Logic encoded in one or more tangible non-transitory media for execution by a processor and when executed operable to:

initiate a first call to a phone number over a Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN);

determine a destination address for the phone number;

transmit at least one message to the destination address for a second call in order to demonstrate knowledge of the first call to a device at the destination address; and

receive a ticket in response to transmission of the at least one message.

9. The one or more tangible media of claim 8, wherein the logic when executed is further executable to:

use call data associated with the first call to demonstrate the knowledge of the first call to the device;

receive the ticket from the device in response to successful demonstration of knowledge of the first call; and

include the ticket in a request to create an Internet Protocol (IP) telephony connection for the second call.

10. The one or more tangible media of claim 9, wherein the ticket includes an indication of when the ticket expires.

11. The one or more tangible media of claim 8, wherein the knowledge of the call includes a start time of the first call.

12. The one or more tangible media of claim 8, wherein the knowledge of the call includes an end time of the second call.

13. The one or more tangible media of claim 8, wherein the knowledge of the call includes caller identification (caller ID) information transmitted as part of the first call.

14. A method comprising:

accepting a first call to a phone number over a Public Switched Telephone Network;

issuing a ticket in response to verifying an Internet Protocol (IP) telephony client is in possession of the demonstrated knowledge of the first call;

accepting an Internet Protocol (IP) telephony connection to the phone number for a second call from the IP telephony client in response to verifying the IP telephony client is in possession of a demonstrated knowledge of the first call, wherein accepting the IP telephony connection includes accepting the IP telephony connection in response to verification that a request to create the IP telephony connection includes the ticket.

15. The method of claim 14, wherein verifying the IP telephony client is in possession of the demonstrated knowledge of the first call includes receiving the demonstrated knowledge of the first call.

16. The method of claim 14, wherein accepting the IP telephony connection includes verifying the phone number is included in a range of phone numbers associated with the ticket.

17. The method of claim 14, wherein issuing the ticket includes associating the ticket with an identifier of the IP telephony client and including the identifier in the ticket, and wherein accepting the IP telephony connection includes verifying the request to create the IP telephony connection is received from the IP telephony client identified in the ticket.

18. The method of claim 14, wherein verifying the IP telephony client is in possession of the demonstrated knowledge of the first call is in response to receiving a request for a ticket a random period of time after the first call was accepted.

19. The method of claim 14, wherein issuing the ticket includes including an authorization server identifier in the ticket, and wherein accepting the IP telephony connection includes using an authorization server identified by the authorization server identifier to validate the ticket.