Top Tips on Preventing Telephone Hacking

Phone hacking has been in the news on and off for several years now. Hacking, in general, is on the rise and it’s not just celebrities who are affected. Phone hacking can happen to anyone. However, there are some simple steps you can take to prevent your phone from being hacked.

1. Turn your Bluetooth off

Having your Bluetooth turned on gives potential hackers the opportunity to access your phone and all of its data. If you still want to have your Bluetooth turned on, you should set your device to ‘not discoverable’ and avoid accepting connections from devices that you don’t know.

2. Change your voicemail pin

Depending on your network provider as well as the age of your phone and contract, there is a chance that you may have been provided with a standard voicemail pin. This pin enables you to access your voicemail from another phone. If you have not changed this pin, then hackers will be able to access your voicemail if they call your phone and it is engaged. All they would have to do is enter the network provider’s standard pin.

3. Don’t download untrusted apps

There are many apps available that will automatically obtain your phone number, SIM card serial number and device ID. These will then be sent back to the app developers. Location and user information can then end up the hands of hackers if there is an attack.

4. Never lend your phone to people you don’t know

Anyone can easily send a text message from your phone to hackers. This enables them to remotely access your phone’s microphone to listen to your calls, locate where you are through your GPS and access personal messages.

Following these simple steps will minimise the risk of your phone being hacked. If you suspect that your phone is being hacked, you should immediately remove the battery to prevent hackers from obtaining your data. 

What are Cat 5 Cables?

Cat5 cables are twisted pair cables used for carrying data, voice, video and audio. They are the most popular of all the twisted pair cables in use today. This is largely because they are a cost-effective option that suits the needs of the vast majority of businesses. At Midland Networks, we can provide the highest quality Cat5 cables with an outstanding installation service.

Cat5 cables contain four pairs of copper wire and they support fast Ethernet speeds of up to 100 Mbps. We also offer the newer specification of Cat5 cable, Cat5e. These support networking at Gigabit Ethernet speeds of up to 1000Mbps over short distances, by utilising all four of the wire pairs. Cat5e cables are backwards compatible with the standard Cat5 cables, making them an ideal option if you’re looking to upgrade.

A high quality cabling network is essential in order to run your business efficiently. Cat5 cables provide a great foundation for your business communications. They deliver greater bandwidth as they have the capacity to carry more data than many alternatives. Because Cat5 cables are manufactured using lightweight materials, you will experience minimal signal loss and benefit from greater data transfer speeds across longer distances. Additionally, your data will be more secure as Cat5 cables do not radiate signals. Cat5 cables provide greater reliability because they are immune to impedance problems, crosstalk, radio frequency and electromagnetic interference. They are also less vulnerable to temperature fluctuations than many alternatives.

Cat5 cables are lightweight and small in size, which makes them relatively fast and simple to install. This means that you can have a reliable network up and running in a short space of time. If you would like to find out more about the benefits of Cat5 cabling, contact Midland Networks today on 0800 849 8585. 

NEC Telephone Systems

At Midland Telecom Networks Ltd, we are proud to offer a full range of NEC business telephone systems. NEC is a world leading manufacturer, offering innovative solutions to its global customer base.

NEC Enterprise Solutions provides IT and Communication solutions to enterprises of all sizes – large, medium or small – both in the private and public sectors. NEC telephone systems are designed for open connectivity, high availability and flexible growth. NEC provides innovative solutions that incorporate the latest voice, data and video technologies.

NEC solutions are designed to help businesses compete in an increasingly tech-savvy world. The NEC range includes products that support the latest communication revolutions such as VoIP and Unified Communications. As such, they enable real-time, collaborative working for increased productivity and customer satisfaction. With NEC solutions, businesses can ultimately maximise operational efficiency, performance and profitability.

The NEC telephone systems range includes the SL1100, which is an excellent value-for-money solution for small businesses. The SV8100 is the ideal solution for medium to large businesses. This system offers complete scalability with the option to start small and expand up to 712 ports. The NEC SV9100 is the perfect solution for businesses that are looking to take advantage of the latest IP solutions and Unified Communications. This system comes in two variants, so you can start with the basic system and scale up as your business grows.

NEC also offers the MyCalls Call Management suite of applications that provides a range of call management solutions, with something to suit every business. The MyCalls range has innovative and user-friendly features that can really help to streamline your daily operations, leading to increased productivity and profitability.

At Midland Networks, we can be of assistance with all aspects of your business communications – helping you through the entire process from supply and installation through to ongoing maintenance and support services. To discuss the right NEC solution for your business, contact us today on 0800 849 8585.  

Midland HDS Demo

Communications Essentials When Setting Up a Business

Setting up in business is an exciting time but it can also be a stressful one.  There are lots of things to remember if you want to have all of the equipment and resources at your disposal to start running the business successfully from day one.  Effective communication both within the workplace and with customers or suppliers is one of the most important factors to the success of a business so when setting up a new venture there are a few items you will need.

Firstly there is the small business phone system which allows you to take calls, make calls as well as enabling callers to leave a message and if necessary putting them on hold or transferring to another person.  Some small businesses may only need to start off with one or two handsets whereas others will need a more sophisticated system that has call waiting features and can allow calls to be diverted from another number.

Choosing a telephone number will be another major decision as although you are often allotted a landline telephone number based on your geographic location and phone service provider, many businesses will choose to have an 0800 or an 0845 number to either give their customers free calls or to make their business look as though it is nationwide.

Business internet services will be vital to any small company no matter what line of work they are in.  Those that rely on the internet for their business will need high speed broadband through a trusted supplier as they cannot afford to lose their connection.  Other businesses will also want reliable internet services to enable them to email customers and suppliers and market their products or services online.

There are many other tools and resources that a small start-up businesses will need to ensure staff have everything they need to do their jobs effectively but getting connected to the internet and having a working telephone system are the number one priorities as very little else can be done without the need to communicate.

To find out more information on setting up phone systems and business internet services, you can visit the Midland Networks website.