VOIP Security Guide

By: Mansi Aggarwal
Submitted: 2007-01-17 15:43:26
Print this article | Tell a friend | For publisher | Social Bookmarking
Rating:
 

Revolutionizing the world of telephony, VoIP has become one of the fastest growing technologies of today. It has quickly gobbled up the market for the traditional and well established tools for communicating over large distances, by making them look antiquated and expensive.

Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) is basically a process which converts your voice into digital signals that travel over internet. Its most prominent feature is its affordability. With VoIP you can make long distance calls at a fraction of cost that you used to pay to your telephone companies. It is primarily because of the fact that transferring digital signals over internet is quite cheaper than transferring analog signals over the traditional telephone lines.

However, nowadays VoIP is in the news not for the great savings in long distance calls that it offers but for the security concerns attached to it. As VoIP runs through internet, the information exchanged can be intercepted by anyone at any time. Moreover, because of its popularity VoIP has become a soft target for the hackers. In the absence of a strong firewall system, hackers may capture sensitive information such as credit card number and bank details. They can even launch denial of service attacks and shut down a voice conversation, or send spam or virus over the internet to disrupt the services. Another vulnerability that the IT sector is worried about the hacking of VoIP networks for making free calls. According to industry sources, a new generation of “phreakers” may be able to manipulate the data switched through a hybrid TDM-VoIP network which will allow them to exploit the billing system to make free calls. Another menace that is plaguing the VoIP networks is ‘caller-id spoofing’. There are some hacking websites that allow people to control the phone number that appears on the receiver’s caller-id display. Moreover, they can modify their voice with the help of voice modification software. Thus, they have become a useful tool for private investigators and pranksters.

VoIP service providers are now trying to secure their customers from these threats through the tunneling and encryption processes. These techniques prevent the hackers from capturing the information packets as they pass through the internet. Most of the service providers are using Layer 2 tunneling and an encryption method called Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) to prevent anyone from getting the confidential information. However, despite of all these possible threats the IT segment is still enthusiastic about the cost savings and the added functionality that VoIP offers to their business. Most of them consider VoIP as a reliable and robust system and the security concerns not so serious to hamper the progress of VoIP.

Thus, although the attacks on the VoIP systems are at a nascent stage but they may gain teeth and hit the consumers sharply as the hackers become aware of the details of this service. Thus, it is necessary for the concerned authorities to understand the criticality of the situation and be ready to take the necessary preventive measures to prevent any major impact of these threats on VoIP in future.

Mansi Aggarwal recommends that you visit VOIP security for more information.

Article source: Expert Articles

Most Recent Articles in VOIP category

  • International Mobile Calls is Now Both Simple and Cheap - By: Michiel Van Kets
    Phone cards are very simple to use. Purchase one for the balance you require and talk until your credit has expired. They can be used anywhere including on your mobile.
  • Magic Jack Broadband Phone Without The Cost - By: Nick Kaplan
    Broadband phone has slash the cost of long distance pay per miniute charges and passed these saving onto consumers. Magic Jack a new voip provider has taken it even one step further by offering consumers the option of purchasing 1-5 years of phone service at a time.
  • Talk is Cheap, but Free is Better - By: Isla Campbell
    Modern advances have resulted in options other than a telephone for making calls and now, an internet connection allows us all to make free calls to people with the same easily accessible software - sometimes change is good!
  • Conference calls cut costs and are a greener option - By: Isla Campbell
    Rather than travel to visit clients, customers, partners or colleagues small businesses could save a potential fortune, as well as significantly reducing their carbon footprint by using conference calls instead.
  • The Benefits of Calling Your Friends - By: Isla Campbell
    Staying in touch really is good for you - and some ways of doing it are better than others.
  • Is It Time For A New Phone System? - By: Joel Ray
    Unlike computers, which have a functional life span of three to four years, phone systems will typically last about ten years. Most phone systems have few (if any) moving parts and require little maintenance and not too much in the way of climate control.
  • Do I Want To Go With VOIP? - By: Joel Ray
    There's been a lot of chatter of late about Voice over IP. Advocates of VOIP hail it as the latest and greatest in technological advances, and recommend it for any new business phone system. But while Voice over IP has some advantages over traditional digital telephone systems, VOIP phone systems and IT support has some disadvantages as well.
  • VoIP Phone Service: A Well Organised Means to Connect at Cheap Cost - By: Kristen Kiya
    The VoIP phone service is facilitated with the latest technology that users can utilise for connecting with others. This service costs low in comparison to the traditional forms. Its seamless connection helps the users to expand their business.
  • VoIP Reseller: The Most Affordable Means to Communicate Internationally - By: Kristen Kiya
    The VoIP resellers actually act as a inter mediator between prospective end users and the wholesaler. As a matter of fact these unique and innovative services permit the users to access long distance and international calls at very cheap rates.
  • Internet calls: Barriers Broken, Conversation Started - By: Nisha Garg
    Internet calls are significantly cheaper compared to the traditional form of telephony. Two Users can talk for a long time with the least cost if they become online.