VoIP (voice over internet protocol) phone systems have gained immense popularity in recent years. These are reliable, feature rich and affordable communication solutions for both domestic as well as business level communication.
Apart from its numerous benefits, voip security remains a major concern that needs to be addressed to ensure the safety of your organization’s communication systems.
VoIP vs landline security
If we talk about the landlines, security risks are less but not zero. Conventional landelines rely on dedicated physical lines that are not connected to the internet. However, they can still be vulnerable to wiretapping and similar security threats.
The fact that VoIP technology relies on internet connection, is a major reason for voip security risks. This system is vulnerable to voip security threats, hacking, eavesdropping, and cyber attacks. Furthermore, anyone having the network access can intercept and listen to confidential communication as VoIP calls are often not encrypted by default.
Why is it so important to ensure VoIP security?
A company’s data is a valuable asset and is always vulnerable to security threats, data breaches, malware and cyber attacks. Therefore, it is important to ensure VoIP security for the purpose of:
- Confidentiality: Unauthorized interception of calls can lead to serious security threats such as identity theft and financial fraud. Having a secure VoIP system is crucial to protect such sensitive and confidential information.
- User authentication: Another significant thing is to authenticate users and devices in order to prevent unauthorized access to the network. If a company lacks a proper authentication system, it gets easy for the attackers to impersonate legitimate users and thus they can access confidential data.
- Integrity: Home VoIP calls must be protected from tampering to ensure their integrity. Hackers may integrate malware into VoIP packets to steal confidential data.
- Availability: Voip phone system must be protected well to prevent any interruption. As business communication relies on VoIP, any disruption or even temporary loss of communication can result in lost productivity, low revenue, and damaged reputation.
- Regulatory compliance: Many industries, such as healthcare and finance, have specific regulations that require the protection of sensitive data which necessitates a secure VoIP connection.
Simply put, it is a matter of utmost importance to have a secure voip system so as to be able to tackle such voip security risks.
VoIP security best practices
Below is the VoIP security checklist. These are some practical tips and tricks that can help you protect VoIP systems.
Enable VoIP encryption
VoIP encryption is the process in which the voice data is modified into unreadable data packets, during transmission from one end to the next. With this feature enabled, the hackers cannot steal the information being shared as they cannot decipher the information as the data packets do not make any sense.
There are different kinds of encryption protocols. These include transport layer security (TLS) and secure real time transfer protocol (SRTP). Both of these ensure a secure and protected system and facilitate data privacy and protection.
Always set a strong password
A password is not only a set of certain characters and digits, but it’s your first line of defense. Setting a complex and strong that usually consists of alphabets, digits and special characters can protect against the unwanted and unauthorized access to your system and database.
Another helpful feature is two factor authentication. You might find it a little bit complex, but it is such a great, additional security layer for your system. With this feature enabled, you will receive two separate forms of identification in order to access your system. Generally, the user receives a code or one time pin (OTP) in the form of a text message. It can be biometric identification or face recognition as well. In any case, this feature ensures a secure and well protected system and significantly reduces the security threats and hackers attacks.
Update software regularly
VoIP technology makes use of broadband connection and certain specific software. Any kind of software that is linked to VoIP phone systems must be regularly updated so as to fill the security gaps.
Keep it user-specific
Make sure to give access to authorized and required users only. Not everyone in the organization needs access. Same goes for previous employees. Therefore, it is much recommended to limit the access. For instance, you must immediately revoke the access of an employee who is no longer part of your team.
Conduct regular security audits
Always monitor the whole system and look for any malicious and unusual activity. For instance, you must notice if there is a high volume of calls before or after office hours, or frequent calls to certain specific numbers or locations. This will help you identify possible security breaches beforehand.
Furthermore, every time you will find areas of improvements, loopholes and security gaps. This way, you can stay one step ahead to ensure voip security in commbercial grade setup.
Train your employees
As the world is gradually embracing and adapting to the emerging technologies, companies must educate and train their employees about their careful and productive use. It is highly recommended to train the employees on setting a strong password, two factor authentication, how to identify, report and prevent a security threat and malware. With proper awareness, many security threats and cyber attacks can be handled beforehand.
Final thoughts
As the business world is adapting to the latest technologies such as VoIP phone systems, it is necessary to ensure VoIP security. Organizations must have detailed contingency plans and a multi-faceted approach in order to protect the valuable data. Enabling VoIP encryption, two factor authentication, training your employees and limiting access are some of voip security best practices in this regard.
However, keep in mind that this is a continuous process. It requires regular software update, security audits and careful monitoring to be able to identify any unusual activity beforehand and protect against data breaches.
Read More: VoIP Phone System for Small Business UK
FAQs
Why is VoIP security important?
Organization’s data is a valuable asset and is always vulnerable to security threats, data breaches and cyber attacks. In order to ensure that the data is not stolen or tampered while being transmitted, it is imperative to take preventive measures and implement best possible security practices.
What are the security features of VoIP?
Some of key features in this regard are end to end encryption, two factor authentication, setting strong and complex passwords and allowing limited access to VoIP systems.
What are 3 challenges of VoIP?
One of the major challenges when shifting to VoIP systems is its security vulnerabilities. In addition, network quality, reliability of services and integrative complexities are also a few challenges with VoIP.
Does VPN protect VoIP?
Virtual private network (VPN) creates anonymous and secure passage between your device and remote server. When VPN is enabled, your online activity and location stay anonymous including VoIP calls. Thus, VPN does help to have a secure VoIP system.
Are VoIP phones encrypted?
VoIP encryption is usually a default setting by many VoIP service providers. This encryption ensures security and data protection. However, to encrypt the entire call, the other user should also be on the network. This adds an additional security layer to VoIP.
