How to Prevent Yourself Becoming a Victim of VoIP Security Issues
Posted on 12 Oct 2008 at 09:50 am | Tagged as: Life Of Telecommunication, School of Technology
Around a dozen WiFi VoIP handsets and deskphones have been scrutinised by top security experts, who say that security problems range from potential DoS attacks to more serious issues that allow “deep access” to the handset that lets a hacker read any sensitive information on the phone.
Such threats are inevitable. So whose responsibility is it to forestall them? it has been posited that if we see practices like this continue as these devices become more prevalent then the manufacturers will only have themselves to blame when there’s a widespread attack.
Voice over IP hacking is the modern days version of war dialing - a strategy of automatically scanning telephone numbers using a modem, usually ringing all telephone number in surrounding area to find where computers or fax machines are available, then attempting to access them by guessing passwords.
Still there are precautions customers can take to protect themselves. Here’s a list of WiFi VOIP security issues, and some effective ways to protect against them:
Many points of attack:
As the phones get more sophisticated, so could the points of entry for malicious attacks increase. Email, client Web browsers, Bluetooth, SMS, WiFi, media players, and image viewers could all give hackers a point of entry. Though users can use open-source as well as commercial tools to continually test their phones and networks, they’ll ultimately have to rely on vendors to also do thorough testing on these VoIP devices.
Targeting phones in public environments:
For example a Bluetooth scanner could be concealed at the entrance to a major public space and be used to steal user data. It may be best to keep Bluetooth and other wireless features swicthed off when not needed.
Rogue access points:
Meanwhile at the office or on the road, emplyees will have to keep their guard up and scan for rogue access points. Unscrupulous individuals will set up access points to specifically target WiFi phones in the corporate space as well as at hotels and other places business people like to congregate. Decent device authentication and encryption can help provide protection here.
Specific attacks:
Targeted attacks on precise voice-over-wireless networks can also be an issue, albeit one that the victims may try to downplay.
