[ic] Phone Number Lookup

Kevin Walsh kevin at cursor.biz
Tue May 22 12:18:29 EDT 2007


Steve Graham <icdev at mrlock.com> wrote:
> Has anyone implemented reverse phone number lookup, something like 
> the following:
> http://www.serviceobjects.com/products/dots_geophone.asp
> 
> It looks like an interesting security feature. Just curious if there 
> are other options, any comments appreciated.
> 
Well, it doesn't seem to be too interesting as a security tool in my
view.  I imagine that quite a few people use numbers other than their
home number (work, mobile phone, VoIP etc.).

I tried looking up my two US numbers:

888 928 7767 (nothing at all - not even provider info):

    <PhoneInfo>
      <Providers/>
      <Contacts/>
    </PhoneInfo>

360 515 3428 (provider info but no contact info):

    <PhoneInfo>
      <Providers>
        <Provider>
          <Name>INTERNATIONAL TELCOM, LTD. - WA</Name>
          <City>SEATTLE</City>
          <State>WASHINGTON</State>
          <LineType>LANDLINE</LineType>
        </Provider>
      </Providers>
      <Contacts/>
    </PhoneInfo>

Calls to both of those numbers are routed to my OpenPBX box via VoIP,
which may account for the lack of information.  Then again, the
information is available to the provider, so it should be available
for lookup if the service works as advertised.

I imagine you'd get so many false negatives that you wouldn't be able
to spot the real security risks.  Also it clearly won't work as a
validation tool for overseas orders.  Lastly, if address info is
returned then you'll get a load of false negatives where people
mis-spell their address.  That happens surprisingly often.

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