Consorting to Internet and technical publications, spit (spam over internet telephony) is already an acronym. Even so, when the acronym was created in October 2004, there was not a single reported cases of spit. Much like spam and spim, it’s considered that as internet telephony becomes more popular with consumers, spit is certain to follow.

Similar to spam and spim, spit offers spammers a low-cost alternative to unsolicited marketing. Mass marketing applying automated voice messages is accomplished literally with the push of a button. The attraction to spammers, naturally, is that spit can be fully automated and is certainly cheaper than staffing a call center with people to make voice calls.  Spit is seen in a variety of forms from spammers sending out automated marketing messages to pranksters interjecting words into a VoIP conversation . audible only to receiver but not the caller. And, like all spam, it has the potential to clog your network traffic and further degrade voice quality.

While spit has yet to bring a network down, security experts agree that it may be a problem in the future. Even as many spammers turned into spimmers as the popularity of instant messaging grew, spimmers may well turn into spitters. Internet Telephony Spam (spit): Best Practices For Individuals

Realize the Risk: While spit is not nearly as common as spam or spim, it’s important to identify the potential risk to your network and educate yourself about what is happening in terms of trends. Being aware that the problem exists on a small scale now will help you if and when it becomes a common spam tactic.

Encryption & Security is Key: To keep a handle on spit before any spam manifestations start, look at encrypting all VoIP conversations. Additionally, you want to protect your servers and networking hardware with both an IDS (intrustion detection system) and anti-virus software. There are also VoIP-specific products available that are worth checking out as well. For example, you can run a software that asks an incoming caller a question that needs to be answered by a human to help prevent automated voice messages from getting through.

Prefer a Service Provider Wisely: To make your own security risks and maintenance easier, you may want top consider a larger, well-established VoIP service provider that has the capabilities to handle most, whenever not all, Internet telephony security issues for you.