Understanding and Dealing With Security Threats to Your VoIP Network

VoIP, or Voice over Internet Protocol technology continues to be a cost-effective option for small to medium businesses and large conglomerates. US technology research firms have previously estimated that the number of IP phones sold in 2006 was 9.9 million

These surveys show that over 40% of businesses who have or plan to set up a VoIP system are not paying attention to security. This survey also shows that managers of these businesses have little to no knowledge about security threats to their VoIP networks.

Many people have found themselves attracted to the low cost of VoIP networks. This technology has the potential to significantly impact their bottom line. Failure to address the most serious drawback of VoIP networks can have severe consequences for their business. It is important for business owners and network managers to be aware of these security risks and take the necessary steps to address them.

VoIP Networks Security Threats: They Are Real

VoIP networks are data-based systems. They are susceptible to both internal and external security threats, just as any other data networks. These are the most serious and potentially dangerous threats that VoIP networks face, which network managers and business owners need to be aware.

Denial of service attacks - also known as DoS attacks - can cause severe disruption to your company's VoIP lines. They force calls to be disconnected and create long busy signals.

VoIP Eavesdropping: Hackers can listen in on all VoIP calls within your network, from any point between your system's and your contacts. As easily as hackers, security agencies and the FBI can also conduct VoIP snooping on your network. These intrusions could also lead to DoS attacks, which can be more severe.

Vishing via VoIP - This is a new version of phishing. It is still the same: internet criminals are trying to access your financial and personal information in order to deceive you into giving them financial returns. This is done in conjunction with Caller ID Spoofing which makes it difficult to track down and identify these criminals.

Attacks on VoIP Service Providers: The perpetrators use spoof phone numbers and illegal accounts to attack VoIP service providers with flooding and fuzzing attacks. These attacks can be illustrated by the simultaneous generation of more than 10,000 messages per minute to flood VoIP networks with traffic equivalent to 10,000,000 users.

How to protect your VoIP networks from security threats

While there is no perfect VoIP system with the current technology, businesses can still take basic security precautions to protect themselves against common threats and attacks to their networks. Here are some examples of these security precautions:

Encryption hardware can be installed to provide protection for your voice and data traffic. If hackers manage to gain unauthorised access to your network, this layer of protection will be necessary Broadcom españa

You can separate voice and data networks by assigning them VLANs (Virtual Local Area Networks) and placing them behind separate firewalls. Each VLAN is isolated to prevent any damage or spread to other servers in the event of an attack.

Secure your system by creating a gateway that is secured. This will restrict access to the network. These gateways are protected by NAT (Network Address Translation) firewalls, and SPI (Stateful Package Inspection).

Maintaining and updating your operating system and VoIP applications will increase your security and prevent potential threats to your network. Security patches are essential system updates and should not be ignored.

Softphones are more susceptible to malware attacks and should be avoided in your networks. To prevent unauthorized entities from gaining access to your network, only approve devices that have been authenticated.