VoIP Security Features

Smaller than my hand. More intelligent than a mini-computer. Able to detonate bombs from remote locations. Look! It’s a camera. It’s an electronic organiser. It’s the “cell phone”! With data becoming more mobile than ever, it is critical that companies have a pervasive security strategy across the corporate network. The arrival of the iPhone could signal the beginning of the end for consumer choice. Now that the marketing blitz and customer hype about the Apple iPhone are reverting back to more realistic levels there comes some not entirely unexpected news... The W/32 Skipi.A worm that nagged Skype users in early September was fairly routine by malware standards. It arrived pretending to be a message from another user, offered erotic pictures, infected machines via malicious links, stole information and moved on to other PCs. Voice over (IP) is a dream concept for companies and organisations all over the world. With voice calls being sent over the internet, money can be saved on long-distance calls and intra-office calls. It was about four years ago when the IT department at Chris McClanahan's Fortune 500 financial services company began noticing a widespread influx of so-called smartphones seeking connection to the corporate network.
As we start to pay bills and surf the web from our mobile phones, it's not the handsets thieves will be after. Organisations are overlooking the security risks, planning considerations and business needs in the rush to capitalise on VoIP, argues ISPhone’s James Spenceley. There have been few mobile phone viruses so far, but as more handsets use WiFi and bluetooth, is it just a matter of time? Mark Mayne reports. As the epidemic of spam and malware continues to barrage email systems, one might think the industry would have learned to build strong security into new communications protocols. Unfortunately, in the case of VoIP - the most important new communications protocol since SMTP - this is not true. Historically, the development of VoIP infrastructure has prioritised quality and reliability over security, with few security measures being built in. VoIP cuts costs and streamlines communication for enterprises, but are the benefits worth the security risks? Dan Kaplan and Negar Salek investigate