While VoIP has many positive benefits to corporations, the potential security risks involved should not be ignored and must be effectively addressed before a loss in money or private data occurs. New products and services must be created to eliminate these security threats. The speakers will address the growing need for the communications industry to address and develop VoIP security solutions now and for the future. The session will cover how implementing security at the “core” of the VoIP system, the platform level, and why ensuring that encryption is synched from the device and network is critical.

This panel discussion, moderated by the chairman of the recently formed VoIP Security Alliance will strive to identify and reduce VoIP security risks through a number of ways including educating and providing tools for the IT manager. Security is a critical concern for enterprise looking to deploy VoIP. As such this special session stands a must-attend for professionals charged with managing their company’s VoIP deployment.

With most major telecommunications carriers currently in the process of deploying VoIP services for mass deployment, it’s clear that IP telephony is finally headed for prime time. However, the promise of mass VoIP consumption also increases the risk for widespread security violations, spawning a new sense of urgency to develop secure VoIP solutions now before hackers wreak havoc on corporate voice networks. This session will examine the special demands of enterprise VoIP, with a special emphasis on delivering secure and reliable IP voice over your enterprise network.

Gartner predicts that 90 percent of all new corporate telephone networks will be IP-enabled and based on SIP protocols by 2008. Still, concerns remain around the security of VoIP and the underlying SIP protocol, fearing that they are susceptible to similar types of threats and exploits that plague the Web and e-mail. Today organizations of all sizes need to evaluate and understand the security measures available that allow companies to deploy real-time messaging, voice, data, video and other SIP based applications with confidence. In this session, the speaker will examine specific SIP security problems including voicemail spam, identity theft, impersonation, session eavesdropping, voicemail bombing, hijacking and redirection. Topics will also include the steps that need to be taken to secure and manage the dynamic nature of real-time SIP communications.

To address the need for secure, predictable, and efficient services for a wide range of diverse applications on a common network, security must be pervasive and be built into the network, not just an afterthought. This presentation will cover the evolution of the networks viewed from the physical and logical differences, to the role of switches and routers, IDS/IPS, and inherent threat protection to ensure the security of networks. This will cover the infrastructure elements, technologies available in the marketplace and granular policies needed to protect against threats, attacks and unauthorized users. Real-world examples will support the premises of pervasive security and securing the network.

Video security and surveillance systems are undergoing a transition, moving away from their analog roots to embrace fully digital, IP-based technology. The benefits of moving to IP are many, including advanced compression/decompression techniques that reduce the need for storage capacity, the ability to view the location under surveillance from any point on the network, and more. This session will serve as an introduction to the world of security/surveillance over IP. If you’re looking to deploy this type of solution, this is truly a can’t-miss session.

Hosted IP voice services offer new revenue opportunities and often provide access into new, otherwise unreachable markets. These services, such as subscriber-based IP Centrex or residential broadband VoIP, can be delivered over a variety of access technologies such as leased line, ATM, Frame Relay, DSL, and cable. Deploying a session border controller provides the necessary control functions to enable high-quality, real-time communications across IP networks. This session will address safe, reliable delivery of SIP applications across network borders; protection of a provider’s service infrastructure and customer relationships; ability to overcome the NAT barrier to the delivery of high margin multimedia services; and more.