Is Your Virtual PBX Putting You at Risk?

Did you ever use code as a kid when you were communicating with your friends? We often tried to come up with our own language, a secret code we could use that would be kept out of reach of siblings and adults. The only problem was we had to keep the legend handy or the code would be foreign to us as well. The excitement surrounding its use was more about the secret fun than the communication we were trying to achieve.

Fast forward into adulthood and trying to code something to keep it private from someone else is not a foreign concept. In fact, it’s a great way to protect our information so it doesn’t fall into the wrong hands and get used for evil instead of for good. The concept keeps some of that old excitement, especially in the virtual PBX environment. Only this time, we don’t have to remember a code.

Encryption is big business in the age of cloud computing and hosted solutions. We want to be sure the information we exchange is protected on both ends as well as in between. VoIP through virtual PBX technology delivers considerable benefits, but it can also present new risks. If you’re not leveraging encryption technology to protect your information, you just might be inviting prying ears into the conversation, putting your proprietary information at risk.

If this seems a little bit like a conspiracy theory, consider the technology in use to transfer information. VoIP does use the network infrastructure to operate and provide users with a service. When it moves beyond the boundaries of the LAN, however, it uses the public Internet – a completely vulnerable environment as it isn’t secure by nature. It can be a hostile environment and hackers can easily pinpoint where they want to attack. Any vulnerability is appealing and if you haven’t taken precautions with your VoIP connection, it may just be the perfect entry.

As such, it’s always a good idea to encrypt VoIP traffic, especially when virtual PBX technology is involved. The key is not to sit back and assume your provider has it covered. It’s your information that’s coming from inside your firewall – don’t allow someone else to set the standard for what you want to protect. Put your own solutions in place and monitor them on a daily basis. Then, monitor what your virtual PBX provider has in place and make sure both are performing as promised.