Is Your Business VoIP Deployment Secure?

Unfortunately, much of today’s news is fraught is negative stories; it is quite unsettling that with the amount of innovation occurring today breaches and security vulnerability are terms becoming all too familiar in headlines. What is also unfortunate is that your business VoIP solution might be vulnerable. According to research from Symantec, hackers are performing “faster attacks,” and are using “far more malicious code.” The Cold War is long gone but the enterprise is pitted in a zero-sum game where taking a Realist approach means leveraging whatever means necessary to protect the network and communications overall.

Today’s threats are extremely real, and without taking precautions a firm’s security operations are akin to being in a boat without a paddle hoping the current will take you back to shore. For those of you ready to be proactive I have a few suggestions to combat this growing threat.

VoIP vendors provide access to firewall expertise, use it. Find a solution that was designed to protect VoIP calls from attack, and make sure that your first line of defense is one of high quality and up to the task at hand.

In addition to deploying a firewall, Anti-Virus and Anti-malware aid in protecting the network at large. This is vital because any attack on the network could prove quite disruptive to privacy and connectivity. Find a trusted enterprise security vendor, do your due diligence and pick the one that best fits need.

In addition, encrypt messages—nobody likes a eavesdropper; it’s one of the easiest to protect against it. In conjunction, by leveraging a VPN, your business VoIP network becomes exponentially more secure.

Most cyber crimes originate from within the enterprise, which makes network awareness paramount. It is important to education the workforce in best practices for VoIP security; working hand in hand with IT to ensure the proper precautions are in place.

One of the easiest precautions to implement is the practice of stricter password policies. This policy should include regular password changes and the inclusion of special characters in passwords.

The vulnerability in a business VoIP deployment is easily averted by taking action. When it comes to cyber criminals, they seem to remain one step ahead of security protocol, which makes it even more important to ensure the enterprise is doing everything in its power to protect the network. So, my Cold War comparison may sound a bit alarmist truer words have never been spoken—it’s us or them. I’ll let you decide. 

Edited by Kyle Piscioniere