Voice Security- Protecting your IP Telephony

Communications are no longer limited by traditional barriers and IP Telephony presents new challenges with security. While this innovative technology has undoubtedly revolutionised the way we communicate, it also comes with its own set of security concerns. With cyber threats on the rise, it has become imperative for businesses to prioritise voice security to safeguard their IP telephony systems. This blog post looks at some key strategies and best practices for securing your IP telephony system against potential threats.

Why is IP Telephony security important?

IP telephony security is crucial due to the sensitive nature of information transmitted over these networks. As voice data is increasingly digitised and transmitted over IP networks, the risk of interception, eavesdropping, and unauthorised access becomes significantly heightened. Without proper security measures in place businesses are vulnerable to various threats, including data breaches, identity theft, and service disruptions, all of which can have severe financial and reputational consequences. Implementing robust security protocols helps protect the integrity, confidentiality, and availability of communication channels, ensuring the privacy and security of sensitive business information and maintaining the trust your customers and stakeholders.
Lady sat at a desk using an IP phone

What are the main security threats impacting IP Telephony?

Malware

IP Telephony systems are exposed to malware threats. Malware threats do not originate in the phone system. Instead, they originate from a user opening a corrupted email on a device that is linked to your IP telephony solution.

Denial-of-Service

Denial-of-Service (DoS) attacks aim to shut down a machine or network by flooding the system with traffic or data so that it then crashes. In the case of IP Telephony this kind of attack can disrupt the availability and functionality of communications services.

Phishing/Vishing Scams

IP Telephony systems can be targeted by ‘Vishing scams’, whereby a scammer contacts a business on a number that is very similar to that of a legitimate organisation and leads the business to believe that their account has been compromised and they need to verify their identity and hand over confidential information. It is important to ensure your employees are familiar with typical scamming tricks and ensure that any scam numbers are flagged by your IP Telephony system and blocked.

Call Tampering

IP Telephony systems are vulnerable to call tampering, where hackers try to disrupt your live calls by sharing substantial amounts of information over the line reducing the quality of calls or causing long delays.

VOMIT

VOMIT stands for ‘Voice over Misconfigured Internet Telephones’. Through a VOMIT tool criminals can steal confidential and sensitive information directly from your calls. This is a significant threat to businesses as criminals can also potentially trace information such as the original call location, enabling them to link future calls and other communications. Ensuring your IP Telephony system is secure is crucial to avoiding VOMIT attacks.

Toll Fraud

Toll Fraud is where attackers gain access to an IP Telephony system and make unauthorised long-distance calls resulting in significant financial losses for an organisation. Many providers, including CloudConnX are able to set up rate limits for specific non-UK areas, and call cost limits to help prevent large unexpected bills.

How can you make your IP Telephony more secure?

Encryption

Encryption plays a critical role in securing IP telephony by protecting the confidentiality and integrity of voice data transmitted over IP networks. By encoding the voice data into an unreadable format during transmission, encryption helps prevent unauthorised access and eavesdropping, ensuring that only authorised parties can access and decipher the information. This security measure makes it significantly more difficult for potential attackers to intercept and decipher sensitive communication, thereby safeguarding the privacy of your conversations and preventing data breaches.

Set up a Firewall and intrusion prevention system (IPS)

Firewalls can monitor and control incoming and outgoing traffic, allowing only authorised and legitimate communication to pass through, while blocking potentially harmful traffic. They can filter out malicious data packets and prevent unauthorised access attempts, effectively safeguarding your IP telephony network from external threats. An IPS is a security tool that actively monitors network traffic for suspicious activities or potential security threats, such as malware, vulnerabilities, or unauthorised access attempts, and takes immediate action to prevent these threats from causing harm.

Authentication

Authentication can help to ensure that only authorised users can access your IP Telephony system. Ensure that you implement multi-factor authentication and strong password policies to help to prevent unwanted access.

VPN

A VPN is a Virtual Private Network that can aid in securing the data your business transmits over the Internet. A VPN acts as an internal network, as it creates its own private network over which data can safely and securely be sent. This can help to make your IP Telephony data harder for criminals to trace.

Updates and patches

Keep your IP telephony software and firmware up to date to ensure that security vulnerabilities are promptly addressed through regular updates and patches.

Network Segmentation

Segment your network to isolate voice data traffic, preventing potential breaches from affecting the entire system. This is particularly beneficial for preventing malware from accessing IP Telephony.

Provider Support

Partner with a trusted IP telephony provider that prioritises security and offers continuous support to ensure the overall safety and security of your communication channels.
By implementing these security measures and adopting a proactive approach to securing your IP telephony system, you can significantly reduce the risk of security breaches and ensure the confidentiality, integrity, and availability of your communication channels and sensitive data. Collaborating closely with your IP telephony provider is essential to ensure the highest level of security for your communication infrastructure. By fostering a strong partnership with your provider, you can leverage their expertise and resources to implement comprehensive security measures tailored to your specific business needs.
Desk phone on a desk

Questions to ask an IP Telephony Service Provider:

Asking these questions can help you assess the provider's commitment to security and determine whether their security measures align with your business's specific security requirements and standards.

• What encryption protocols do you use to secure voice data transmission? 
• How do you ensure the integrity and confidentiality of voice data within your network? 
• Do you provide firewall and Intrusion Prevention System (IPS) capabilities to protect against external threats? 
• What measures do you have in place to prevent eavesdropping and call interception? 
• What is your approach to network segmentation to isolate voice data traffic from other network activities? 
• What kind of customer support and assistance do you provide in case of security-related issues or concerns?

CloudConnX and IP Telephony Security

Are you looking for an IP Telephony system with a trusted provider? With CloudConnX, you can stay connected while being assured that security is our priority. We understand that security is an essential asset for your business and with the correct security measures in place IP Telephony can provide a significantly more advanced and secure solution than was ever available through the Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN) and Private Branch Exchange (PBX). 

All SIP lines provided by CloudConnX benefit from extensive fraud protection. Over 200 fraud checks are performed on every single call. We can help you set up rate limits for non-UK destinations, establish maximum call costs, provide real-time call information, and manage black/white lists. 

3CX phone systems hosted by CloudConnX use a sophisticated intrusion detection and mitigation engine to protect against hacking attacks and potential dial through fraud. 3CX also operate a central database of IP addresses that have been blacklisted by one or many 3CX systems known as the 3CX global anti-hacking defence program. 

3CX also supports secure VoIP connections, ensuring that attempts to ‘tap’ into or subvert the equivalent of a phone line are prevented, and all 3CX instances are updated regularly (typically weekly) to ensure that the latest security practices are in place. Furthermore, all 3CX instances we provide are backed up nightly. 

Overall, telephony from CloudConnX is designed to provide total peace of mind that your calls and systems are continuously up to date and secure. 

To find out more about how telephony services from CloudConnX can help you meet your security objectives whilst saving you money, why not contact us for an informal conversation about how we can help.