The economic Impact of VoIP Security Vulnerabilities and how to secure VoIP for business

PRLog (Press Release) – May 13, 2007 – VoIP and related real-time communication applications, such as video conferencing and instant messaging, continue to attract considerable interest worldwide, with millions of active private and business VoIP users today. Carriers and enterprises are increasingly seeing the benefits of VoIP services that allow voice messaging and video conferencing to be conducted securely, like email, as communications are transferred freely over traditional phone networks and the Internet.

VoIP promises many business benefits and efficiency gains, from integrated and streamlined voice and data communications to cost savings. In the rush to realise these benefits and the economic impact it is easy to forget that VoIP is an IP service and that VoIP networks and applications servers are exposed to all of the threats and risks that face other IP network services.

We are all familiar with the security threats that face email and web servers and the consequences of ignoring those threats. If anything, the threats that face VoIP systems are even greater. VoIP is a complex real-time communication service less tolerant of disruption than more traditional network applications.

Following these presumptions there are different types of threats:

IP Network Level Threats (as malformed packet and flooding attacks)
Application Protocol Specific Threats (like registration and call flooding attacks as well as call disruption attacks)
Content Threats (like eavesdropping and monitoring, VoIP Spam/Spit and malicious content)

“The promised benefits of VoIP are well-known and well-understood, but beware the sting-in-the-tail. It’s an obvious statement, but VoIP moves voice telephony to an IP network where the VoIP application servers are open to both the same attacks that have faced web and email servers for the last 10 or 15 years and a whole new range of application specific threats. These threats are heightened when voice and data run on the same network, a necessary step to gain the full benefits of application convergence.   Attacks on unprotected systems can result in call disruption or even complete system failure.” Dean J. Bell, Regional Director Middle East, Africa/APAC outlined.  

“These risks are real, as soon as a VoIP system is linked to the outside world, whether to allow home workers and roaming users to call in, to enable links with business partners, or make use of VoIP trunking services then the system is at risk. No one would think of installing a web server or email server without securing it, VoIP should be not different,” Peter Cox, CTO International BorderWare Technologies adds.

A new white paper examines the real-world threats that face VoIP networks, categorises those threats and shows the potential economic impact of those threats. The paper also includes a brief introduction to some of the security technologies that can be used to prevent these threats and to enable the safe deployment of VoIP networks.

Please visit http://www.borderware.com/pdfs/VoIPThreats.pdf to download the white paper.

For additional information or to arrange an interview with Peter Cox, CTO International, BorderWare Technologies, or Dean J. Bell, Regional Director, Middle East, Africa/APAC at BorderWare please contact Leesa Fogarty, phone +61 4333 16834, email Leesa@bluepedal.com.au

About BorderWare

BorderWare Technologies makes Internet communications safe. The company’s content and application security solutions enable customers to mitigate the risks and threats associated with Internet communications. Founded in 1994, BorderWare has developed partnerships and affiliations with some of the industry’s most prominent companies including Cisco Systems, F5 Networks, Kaspersky Labs, McAfee, PostX, Research in Motion (RIM), RSA Security, Sun Microsystems, Symantec and Ubiquity. More than 8,000 customers in 65 countries have selected BorderWare’s solutions for their superior security, scalability, business continuity and lower total cost of ownership. For more information please visit http://www.borderware.com.