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Practical VoIP Security

Admin — Wed, 29 Apr 2009 15:51:58 +0000

Securing your voip is a vital subject as VoIP is vulnerable to all the threats to which the Internet is vulnerable. In the post Is Somebody Recording Your VoIP Calls?, I touched upon this topic.

Now here is a book which you may find interesting as well as useful if you are using VoIP in your business and home.

Practical VoIP Security

Here is what is covered in the book:

Voice Over IP (VoIP) phone lines now represent over 50% of all new phone line installations. Every one of these new VoIP phone lines and handsets must now be protected from malicious hackers because these devices now reside on the network and are accessible from the Internet just like any server or workstation.

This book will cover a wide variety of the publicly available exploit tools and how they can be used specifically against VoIP (Voice over IP) Telephony systems. The book will cover the attack methodologies that are used against the SIP and H.323 protocols as well as VoIP network infrastructure. Significant emphasis will be placed on both attack and defense techniques. This book is designed to be very hands on and scenario intensive. Read more about Practical VoIP Security

Is Somebody Recording Your VoIP Calls?

Admin — Sat, 21 Feb 2009 08:02:20 +0000

Perhaps not. But it is a fact that if somebody wants to, he can tap every VoIP call you make. This would be an invasion on your privacy but not much harmful if you were making small talk with your friends or inquiring about the health of your uncle Frank.

On the other hand, if you were making a business call in which you exchanged sensitive information and if that phone was tapped, this could have serious consequences for you.

How phone spying works

While snooping is also possible on the traditional landline phones, it is not that easy to carry out. The criminal needs to physically fiddle with your phone line cable to introduce a tapping device. This carries more risk of exposure than the tapping of a VoIP phone. A snooper can do the nefarious work anonymously sitting in front of his computer at home. And he can get at you three ways – through your internet service provider, VoIP service provider or your own pc if there is any security lapse at any of these points.

As data theft has been attracting much attention, ISPs and VoIP service providers have become very security conscious and take very sturdy measures to protect their servers. So it is difficult, if not impossible, to get at them but a home pc can very much become an easy target.

Does this mean making VoIP calls is not safe?

No, VoIP is not unsafe as such. However remember that VoIP works through internet and is prone to all the threats and attacks that are associated with internet – viruses, identity theft, phishing, spam, spyware. In other words your VoIP phone is as safe as your pc.

If your pc can be attacked so can be your VoIP system with the result that somebody could steal your password to make phone calls, send you spam telemarketer calls or disable your pc by dos attacks as well as listen to your phone calls.

Can All This Happen To You?

In theory anything is possible. And some, if not all, of these unpleasant things can happen to you if somebody targets you specifically. Otherwise there is very little likelihood that your VoIP phone would be tapped or somebody would be using your account to make long-distance calls.

This means that you need not worry too much when making a VoIP call. But it doesn’t mean that you should disregard security measures altogether.

Consider security like insurance. You don’t expect to be knocked down while crossing the street or have a head-on collision while driving. Even then most everybody thinks it a good idea of having some sort of life or accident insurance. It is the same with VoIP or pc security. Hopefully nobody would hack your VoIP system or pc. But what if somebody does?

What to do

As VoIP travels on the internet which reaches you normally through your pc, this is where the security should begin. So secure your pc and you should have secure VoIP. And for that you have to do a few things.

First of all set a security level of your browser which is the gateway to everything that enters your pc by way of internet. The levels on IE range from High to Low. Decide on the level you are comfortable with.

Next on the line of defense are firewall and antivirus. They catch any nasty that goes past the browser security. Get antivirus software which updates itself to meet the new threats that emerge. And remember to turn on your firewall and antivirus before you access the internet.

Passwords are the keys to your pc and online accounts. Make it a point to use passwords that are not easy to hack. And when you have created such strong passwords, take care to protect them.

If you are using VoIP phone to make sensitive business calls, use an adapter to connect your phone directly to the internet without going through your pc. This way your VoIP phone is insulated from the attacks that your pc may come under.

Do all this and your VoIP phone should be safe in most cases. But never let down your guard. Develop a security consciousness – be on the alert to learn about the threats that emerge and the ways to combat them. This is true of not only VoIP security but any security concern in our life.

Who Pays For Your Free Pc To Phone Calls?

Admin — Sat, 21 Feb 2009 07:47:52 +0000

No, a free VoIP provider doesn’t pay for such free calls. True, a VoIP provider may give you some free introductory minutes. But he can’t continue with it indefinitely unless he wants to go broke.

This is because when you make a call from your pc to some landline or mobile phone, your call travels over the internet but it has to connect with a landline or a mobile company for completion or termination of the call.

For this service, the VoIP provider has to pay that phone/mobile company. If a VoIP provider were to give you free service then this money has to come from his pocket – something which he can ill afford to bear for a long time.

This means that there cannot be anything like totally free pc to calling at all. At the same it is also a fact there are a few VoIP providers that give you such facility.

Then who pays for such pc to phone calls?

The answer to this question is YOU. It is you that pays for this service. Not in money but by your time.

How Free Pc To Phone Calling Works

A VoIP provider earns his income comes from promoting third party products and services on his site.

Such promotions could be ad impressions, asking for free information or free trial offers. For any of these promotions to succeed, the VoIP provider needs traffic to the VoIP site. Somebody to see the ads, ask for free information or try out a product or service. That somebody is you.

You Make It All Possible

When you sign up, you are providing the traffic to the VoIP site. When you complete any of the offers you are helping the VoIP provider to earn income because except for CPM – cost per thousand impressions – kind of advertising, the advertisers pay the webmaster by results of the promotion.

In return for this help, the VoIP provider pays you in free time to make pc to phone calls. So it is actually you that is making the free VoIP service possible.

How Much Free Time Can You Earn?

Your earning in free minutes depends upon your involvement in completing the third party offers and the time you spend for them.

Offers to ask for free information or free downloads pay comparatively less than free trials because the advertisers feel that only when a large number of surfers ask for free information or download a software, there is some likelihood of converting a few of them into paying customers.

On the other hand the free trials usually pay more – sometimes as much as $5 – in free talk time because most such offers require you to use your credit card. You are not charged during the trial period but it is upon you to cancel the offer before the trial period ends. Do check the terms of service when you go for such offers.

The bottom line: No, free pc to phone calling is not free as such but it comes very much near to that as you don’t have to pay any money for it. So why not earn some free minutes for the calls you have always wanted to make?