Top 10 VoIP Vulnerabilities: What You Need to Know
Since VoIP is becoming increasingly popular, it makes it an excellent target for cybercriminals and scammers. While VoIP is the future of business communication, thanks to its flexibility, versatility, and other benefits it provides, there are some vulnerabilities you should know. This article will cover the top 10 VoIP vulnerabilities and how you can protect yourself.
1. Authentication Error
You must have your devices, accounts, and users authenticated; otherwise, attackers can hijack a flaw in the registrar system that allows others to add themselves as a valid user or lock your valid users out of the system entirely. The attackers do this by spoofing registration messages and sending themselves a way to register as users.
2. Call Tampering
You want them to receive your message clearly and immediately when you call someone. With call tampering, a hacker disrupts the current phone conversation by creating instability in the call quality by sending large amounts of data along the same path you’re using. They can also delay data packets, making communicating challenging and producing long silences.
3. DDOS Attacks
Distributed Denial of Service attacks are common, but most aren’t successful. The main problem is that cybercriminals now have better tools and machines at their disposal, allowing them to launch quicker attacks and target more people, putting businesses of all sizes at risk.
4. Execution Flaws
VoIP services and registrations use a standard database, and filtering out SQL queries and other active content from passwords, user names, and other user-provided data is vital. Execution flaws result from insecure programming practices and poorly filtered inputs.
5. Low Bandwidth
You must have your system set up so that every employee you have can make a call at the same time. While that scenario isn’t likely to happen, you don’t want to experience a service shutdown if your service experiences a more significant load than usual, either malicious or otherwise.
6. Malware and Viruses
Nobody likes having viruses or malware on their systems, as they, along with trojans, are considered the most significant threats that network systems face. Criminals create these programs to gain access to your entire system, whether it’s consuming your bandwidth, eavesdropping on phone calls, or stealing vital information.
7. Phishing
Sometimes, called Vishing since it deals with VoIP, occurs when scammers call from numbers that are similar to legitimate companies, such as banks, government agencies, and utility companies, and direct the victim to call back to verify their identity so they can follow up on suspicious activity on their account.
8. Spam Over Internet Telephony
Also known as SPIT, it is a variant of spam phone calls that simultaneously sends voicemails to several thousand IP addresses. The numbers they use may look like local phone numbers used by genuine establishments, but they originate from different countries.
9. Voice over Misconfigured Internet Telephones
With this threat, cybercriminals take sensitive information and voice packets from calls and use them to gain useful information to eavesdrop on future calls later. Not only do they learn where the call came from, but the destination, leaving both parties vulnerable.
10. VoIP Fraud
With this vulnerability, you might not even know it’s happening. Cybercriminals can hack into your VoIP system and use your system without your permission to make a high volume of calls to international premium rate numbers. This can cost your business a lot of money and leave you wondering why your service is so expensive.
At McEnroe Voice & Data, we understand how important it is to have a secure network infrastructure you can rely upon. This is why we ensure your system is properly programmed and designed to your unique needs, and we have a team of certified technicians for all your communication needs. Get in touch with us if you’re interested in a free consultation or if you need technical support.