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Secure VoIP solutions

Date Published: 04th April 2007

Republish Secure VoIP solutions

Author: Alison White

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C21 Communications secure provider and exclusive distributor of Topex products in the UK, advises businesses implementing to follow a set of safe practice recommendations.
Keep your VoIP network separate
If you don’t have to expose your VoIP system to the Internet, then don’t. However, an increasing number of companies are opening their VoIP networks to facilitate communications with mobile workers using softphones or laptops to connect via the Internet.

Take every step to ensure that there is some level of authentication and encryption in place for these communications. A (VPN) is a good way to maintain the integrity of communications from any trusted person connecting to your VoIP system from an un-trusted network.

Many organisations still use closed VoIP systems as an internal tool to call between office locations. But even if it is blocked off from the Internet, you still need to separate it from your desktop and network environments, any key servers, and other VoIP networks.

Likewise, if your VoIP network runs in a converged environment, you’ll need to separate it at an abstract level – using a VPN or VLAN – to ensure that any attacks or compromises to the network are localised and don’t affect your VoIP equipment, and vice versa.

Implement VoIP-aware security intelligence
Even if you are diligent about keeping your VoIP network separate, and you’ve implemented a VPN to protect both internal and external communications, there are still attacks specifically designed for VoIP that require a deeper level of protection. For instance, there will be people who have legitimate access to your VoIP network who can use this access to launch an attack or conduct other illicit activities such as eavesdropping or hijacking calls.

VoIP architecture contains many different protocols, which standard intrusion prevention systems (IPS) and firewalls are not capable of handling. Make sure to implement IPS and firewall technology that is "VoIP aware" and can look deep into the traffic. You want to be able to allow legitimate users to go through, while accurately identifying and blocking suspect traffic before it becomes a threat.

You also want to ensure that you have intelligent IPS deployed between VoIP gateways and near your call manager, a key area of attack that contains all your critical user information.

Protect against rogue VoIP usage
It is almost guaranteed in any sizable company that you’ll find unsanctioned use of consumer peer-to-peer VoIP technologies such as Skype or Google Talk. These tools introduce a high level of risk to your network since they are designed to find multiple ways to tunnel out of the network to the Internet, easily bypassing standard firewalls.

One way to address this is to install VoIP-aware IPS and firewalls at all the key access points, which will enable the organisation to design a policy to either block this type of traffic entirely or decide who can use these tools and in what capacity.

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Republish Secure VoIP solutions

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