How to Address Business VoIP Security

VoIP provides businesses with a lower cost and more flexible means of voice communications. But to get all the benefits from VoIP solutions and avoid the pitfalls, businesses must take steps to insure their traffic is secure. A recent article by Chris Smith offers a handful of tips to keep business VoIP traffic secure.

Encryption is No. 1 on the list. This is important, particularly given that VoIP may travel over various networks, creating the possibility for it to be accessed by unauthorized parties, the story notes. VoIP encryption can be achieved using tools like Zfone. The Zfone program is free, according to the piece, and works on Linux, Mac, and Windows.

Authentication is also very important, Smith indicates. That’s because service abuse and toll fraud, which enables bad actors to make calls and charge them to a business, is a common VoIP hack.

“Implementing mutual authentication protocols between parties is one of the best ways to prevent this,” Smith writes. “This could be done through a password, pin, or other classified information.”

Improving password credibility, doing 24/7 monitoring, and establishing strong firewalls are the other three tips offered in this piece.

While all important traffic on networks can benefit from being secured, a December 2014 piece by Dan York on the VoIP Security Alliance website notes that VoIP can actually be more secure than voice on the traditional PSTN. Here he is referring to how some over-the-top VoIP apps actually have built-in encryption.

“The bigger concern is of course that most of our telecom systems are all interconnected,” added York, “and you can have the most secure VoIP system in the world, but if you wind up connecting to the PSTN – and specifically in this case to mobile PSTN networks – then you are open to exactly these kind of attacks.”

Edited by Maurice Nagle