Did you know that your phone systems can be hacked?

Hackers will take advantage of any vulnerability, and the fact that most phone systems now use Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) it’s a threat you should be aware of. What is VoIP? VoIP is a technology that allows you to make and receive phone calls over the internet instead of through traditional phone lines or cellular networks. VoIP is popular, as it offers tons of business features improving client experience, is very cost effective to operate and makes it easy for businesses to scale. In fact, it is estimated that 70 to 80% of businesses in Canada are using this system for their phone communications and this trend is expected to continue. But like anything that is internet related, the downside is that its an emerging target for hackers. The good news is that you can take steps to ensure that your business is less of a target.

Here is a list of common types of VoIP attacks:

Denial of Service (DoS) attacks – This attack involves hackers overwhelming the VoIP server with traffic to disrupt communications.

Eavesdropping – Attackers can intercept VoIP communications to listen in on calls.

Man-in-the-Middle Attacks – Hackers with this attack intercept and alter communications between two parties in a VoIP call.

What you can do to Protect Yourself:

Introduce Strong Authentication Processes – Ensure you implement complex passwords, multi-factor authentication (MFA) and digital certificates to prevent unauthorized access.

Encrypt VoIP Communications – The first step is to determine whether your telecommunications provider already offers encrypted communications. You can find out by asking your provider if they provide Secure Real-time Transport Protocol (SRTP) for voice encryption and Transport Layer Security (TLS), for signaling encryption.

Deploy Network Security Measures – To protect your VoIP system you can implement firewalls, intrusion detection systems to that only legitimate traffic can access your network.

Update Software – Like any system VoIP systems require software, hardware and network updates to ensure your system is protected from vulnerabilities.

In conclusion, the business advantages to using VoIP as your phone system I would argue outweigh the alternative but like any system you need to be smart about ensuring that cybersecurity is in place.

Kim Krushell

Co-Founder