Worried about VoIP security and encryption? we are not

Any modern business using a Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) phone system knows that maintaining security is essential for confidentiality, customer trust, and regulatory compliance.

Industries like healthcare, for example, have strict regulations governing communications, and HIPAA-compliant VoIP providers offer security, privacy, and access management tools to help businesses follow these regulations, even when employees They access the network from distant places.

Meanwhile, poor encryption and security can also hurt your bottom line, as fraudsters and fraudsters will find ways to exploit weaknesses to commit VoIP fraud on unsecured phone systems. Toll fraud works by hijacking a company's telephone system to make high-volume, artificial long-distance calls. The system owner is charged for these calls (often inadvertently), and the fraudsters then receive a cut of the revenue from the colluding operators' services.

In addition to toll fraud, there are many other vulnerabilities to VoIP systems, but if you are using one of the best business phone services, your provider will take care of the challenging parts of VoIP security and encryption. You just need to promote basic network security in your organization (strong passwords, access control, etc.).

Good providers take care of VoIP security and encryption

A hosted VoIP service is a cloud-based communications solution that offers secure calling and voice messages over the Internet.

The good thing about these services is that security and encryption come integrated. VoIP providers update software and firmware, maintain hardware, and help you stay compliant.

Of course, scammers and fraudsters are constantly evolving their game, but VoIP providers respond to these attacks in real time and keep your system safe from the latest threats.

With a hosted VoIP service, your employees have individual login credentials to access their VoIP accounts and all calls your business makes go through the service provider's network. That means the VoIP provider handles security and encryption while routing calls, not you.

That also means that your company stays secure no matter where your employees are because a VoIP service allows them to access the secure communication network from any softphone. Your employees will also not have to perform additional security-related tasks, as VoIP services apply the latest measures throughout the network. Many of the headaches related to remote work security are now completely out of reach.

What should a secure VoIP provider have?

A good VoIP provider should have strong encryption protocols to keep your data safe while in transit. In this way, voice calls and messages are indecipherable until they reach their destination, where only the recipient can decode them.

Similarly, a stateful firewall and/or intrusion detection system helps prevent attacks and unauthorized access. Enhanced login security measures such as multi-factor authentication (MFA) and two-factor authentication (2FA), for example, more secure access and a password and token system, can also be an effective countermeasure. unwanted infiltration.

The following technologies help VoIP providers secure their networks:

• Session Border Controllers (SBC): An SBC acts as a gatekeeper of the network by regulating the flow of IP communication. SBCs are particularly useful for protecting against denial of service (DoS) attacks and distributed DoS (DDoS) attacks.
• Transport Layer Security (TLS): TLS protocols use cryptography to secure the media and signaling channels of a VoIP network. TLS protocols use a digital handshake to authenticate parties and establish secure communications.
• Secure Real-Time Transport Protocol (SRTP): SRTP is a media encryption measure that acts as a certificate of authenticity, which can be requested before granting access to media.

Not all organizations require SBC, but anyone using a cloud phone system could be the target of a VoIP DDoS attack. Work with your provider to implement a future-proof VoIP phone system that follows network security architecture best practices.

The VoIP industry has established standards and frameworks to guide businesses with the best security practices available. In fact, the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) publishes guidelines that cover this sector.

A good supplier must have the following accreditations and certifications:

• PCI Compliance: PCI compliance is an information security standard for card payments. Having this certification facilitates secure payments with the main credit cards.
• ISO/IEC 20071: This Information Security Management System (ISMS) describes a global set of standards that help protect business data.
• ISO/IEC 27002: This Code of Practice for Information Security Controls describes controls and best practices for protecting information.
• ISO/IEC 27005: This certification refers to Information Security Risk Management. Provides guidelines for assessing and managing information security risks.
• ISO/IEC 27017: This establishes protocols for cloud service providers. It helps to explicitly secure cloud services and their ecosystems.
• ISO/IEC 27018: This describes how to protect personally identifiable information (PII) in public clouds.

Secure VoIP providers must also be aware of the security of their human layer. Many scams originate from human error, so a company is only safe if its staff members are trustworthy. As such, companies are vulnerable to social engineering attacks.

Social engineering is the process of manipulating people into handing over confidential information. Instead of relying on technical vulnerabilities, many scammers use human psychology to obtain passwords, login details, and other sensitive information.

Scammers often use phishing techniques to gain trust. This technique involves sending messages and emails that appear legitimate, ultimately leading people to give up their passwords or new login details after trusting the legitimacy of the source.

VoIP providers can limit social engineering opportunities by implementing 2FA or MFA as part of IVR authentication workflows. Simply put, the more authentication steps required, the more information a fraudster will need to extract, and the more information they need to extract, the lower their chances of infiltration.

Employee training and awareness are also critical factors in reducing social engineering attacks, as monitoring communication patterns and identifying irregularities can root out social engineering attempts before they gain momentum.

To combat these measures and further educate employees, Udemy, Coursera, and edX offer cybersecurity courses that include modules on social engineering. Likewise, Black Hat and DEFCON include workshops on the relationship between psychology and security.

Self-hosted VoIP security and encryption is a challenge

Some companies choose to host their own VoIP server on their company premises. This has some advantages, as creating a self-hosted system from scratch gives you more customization and control options.

However, several challenges make hosting a VoIP service impractical for many businesses. These areas include:

• Cost: Setting up a VoIP system is expensive compared to subscribing to an existing service. A VoIP service provider already has the necessary infrastructure, hardware, and backend in place.
• Responsibility: Self-hosting offers customization and control at a cost. With your own VoIP system, you need to update software, manage hardware, and troubleshoot technical issues.
• Scalability: Increasing the capacity of your self-hosted VoIP system may require hardware upgrades and other configurations. You can achieve the same capacity increase with a few clicks by using a VoIP service.
• Security and encryption: With a self-hosted VoIP system, security and encryption are your responsibility. For many business owners, this alone is enough to turn them away from self-hosting.

Additionally, self-hosting is often only possible with a dedicated IT team or managed service provider. Without one, your security and encryption probably won't be as good as that of a hosted service provider, who has their own team dedicated to running the latest security protocols.

Using self-hosted VoIP also has complications for remote teams, as you must configure the network for remote access while maintaining security. This process typically involves a virtual private network (VPN) or other secure remote access methods.

Let the Professionals Take Care of VoIP Security and Encryption

VoIP security is complex and constantly evolving, so outsourcing a VoIP service makes sense for a variety of reasons.

Even the cheapest VoIP phone service providers do the heavy lifting for you, so there's no need to purchase, configure and maintain expensive on-premise VoIP infrastructure that will be obsolete in a few years.

Meanwhile, security and encryption are the cornerstones of a good VoIP business, and most VoIP service providers will have better security and encryption than self-hosted solutions in the long run.

So unless you're in the telecommunications industry and have great communications security skills, it's probably best to let the professionals handle it.