Hoping to get a jump on VoIP spam before it overwhelms corporate networks, management tool maker Qovia plans to release software designed to block unwanted voice messages sent over IP networks.

While acknowledging that VoIP spam isn't yet creating the headaches that traditional e-mail spam has, Qovia plans to develop a tool that blocks unwanted voice mail messages so when spammers begin blasting IP networks with multiple copies of a voice recording, administrators will be able to defend their users' voice mailboxes, says Richard Tworek, CEO of Qovia. In late June the company filed a patent application for a method of detecting and blocking VoIP spam, and plans to release a tool to implement that technology by year-end.

"By no stretch has [VoIP spam] slowed down the VoIP industry. Most buyers are enterprises using it between branches and campuses," Tworek says. But with the adoption of VoIP networks about to take off, the company expects its anti-spam tool will help stem the tide of VoIP spam that's likely to swell as the technology becomes more popular. "We're getting ahead of this one," he says.

It's inevitable that spam will infiltrate VoIP networks, just as it has the Internet and text-messaging networks, says Winn Schwartau, president of The Security Awareness Company. "It's the opening up of the whole IP world to a different type of spam," he says, adding that he's already received voice spam on his cell phone. "It's going to be huge, and companies like Qovia are going to do real well."

What makes sending commercial messages over VoIP networks appealing to spammers is that, much like e-mail spam, it can be done quickly and inexpensively. Using a VoIP network, spammers can record one voice mail message and send it to hundreds of thousands of IP addresses, where it appears in users' voice mailboxes, Tworek says.

Qovia's anti-spam tool, which will be released by year-end as a security module to the company's VoIP management and monitoring product, also will protect companies against denial-of-service attacks designed to bring down a company's network, Tworek says.

The anti-spam tool doesn't listen to an actual voice message, he adds, but uses algorithms to determine, for example, if calls are generated by humans or machines. Much like anti-spam tools for e-mail, it will sort through incoming messages to attempt to distinguish wanted from unwanted. Wanted messages, such as broadcasts containing emergency information or company-wide information, will still get through to their recipients, he says.