VoIP Security Problem and Solution - Essay Example

VoIP Security Problem and Solution Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) is a famous buzzword these days. It is a modern technology based communication or way of data transmission over the phone just around the corner. The major benefit of this technology is that it reduces the expenditures that go together with a traditional phone line, at least at this point of the game. In other words, this is a new communication technology structure that offers the savings of hundreds, or yet thousands of dollars for a number of people. Additionally, the people who have made use of voice chat software would have knowledge of the latency concerns that transmit through some kind of data transfer including the internet. However, VoIP technology effectively deals with the latency concerns by means of RTP (real time communication protocol). In addition, this communication protocol ensures that data packets are transferred and received in an appropriate manner (Garden; Karapantazis and Pavlidou; Swale). Moreover, the basic design of VoIP is very much different from customary circuit-based technology of telephony, and this difference results in major security problems and issues (Kuhn, Walsh and Fries). Figure 1: VoIP Image Source: https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-Q6llGX3k4lw/TXw-zz8C0JI/AAAAAAAADk4/mYYgY-GxQfg/Voip+Comp+to+Comp.jpg This report will present a detailed analysis of security problems and issues due to application of VoIP technology at Hargreaves, Hargreaves, Hartley and Hunter (usually known as H4) company. This report will also present some mitigation strategies which can be adopted by H4 Company to deal with security related issues. Background H4 is a marketing firm that excels at advertising campaigns for a large number of well-known products and brands as well as a lot of smaller ones. H4 Company is specialized in designing ads for healthcare products however it as well handles accounts related to beauty products and domestic cleaning products. Additionally, the company has now evolved to a huge business setup that requires high quality communication capabilities. In this scenario, there is a vital need for the implementation of cost effective communication technology setup. The traditional communication arrangement at the business is costly as well as not enough to deal with growing communication needs of the business. Thus, the management of H4 Company has decided to implement a new technology based arrangement which is known as VoIP. Security Issues VoIP has become a well-known technology that is now vastly implemented at corporate structures. This modern technology offers an excellent support for managing communication related issues. However, a number of security and privacy related issues are still hindering in the successful application of this technology based arrangement. This section of the report outlines some of the key issues in order to present a more detailed overview of security issues that can create problems for H4 Company. In case of VoIP the security problems and vulnerabilities carry on to plague such new communication environment, even the main vendors putting out devices that could be easily compromised. In point of fact, the situation becomes worse as VoIP turns out to be more intensely entrench in the commercial landscape, as compared to corporate structure (Stone). VoIP Security Problems Presented below are some of the well-known security issues that can seriously affect H4 Company: (Grilli; Dempster; Unuth; VoIPprovidersList) 1- Eavesdropping via wiretapping Security Issues Wiretapping is an illegal link that could be created on our VoIP network for the purpose of eavesdropping or to snooping maliciously and secretly to our discussions or to unlawfully intercept other private communication like that our instant message, etc. H4 Security Issues In scenario of H4 Company any staff member can perform such illegal activity to get illegal access to network. The consequences of this act could be really hazardous. Solution Appropriate Security Management Hardware: application of tracking and security handling servers Software Solution: application of software firewall and antivirus software application Staff training solutions: staff training in order to ensure security of overall corporate operations and working 2- Identity theft Security Issues With wiretapping to our VoIP network, services and lines can be hacked by unauthorized people and they can easily steal our password, username, phone numbers, email address and other personal credentials. In addition, they can utilize our identity to get access to our calling plan and billing data and information to create free long-distance calls using our account. H4 Security Issues In scenario of H4 Company any staff member can access some other staff members’ account details and can make long distance calls or hack the account to make some illegal changes to business operations and network. Solution Staff training and education: staff security management and handling training in order to ensure security of overall corporate operations and working 3- Vishing or VoIP phishing Security Issues By using phishing trick an attacker can be able to use VoIP network to call us illegally, drive us to a fake text message or a fake telephone number for us to empathize with the deception to force us into giving our confidential personal and financial data and information in an attempt to get control over our account. H4 Security Issues In scenario of H4 Company, an outsider hacker can be a competitor or any unsatisfied staff member who can hack the business data or personal details of an employee to cause some damage to H4 Company. Solution Staff training and education: staff security management and handling training in order to ensure security of overall corporate operations and working Providing guidelines to staff members through user manuals: Developing and presenting software security management systems and their help manual so that staff can able to better manage security issues 4- VoIP DoS Attacks Security Issues A Denial of Services (DoS) attack is a bombardment of needless communication calls or signals to a VoIP network in an attempt to break or stop our company’s working, service or connection. Figure 2- DoS attack Image Source: http://global.crazyengineers.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/05/DOS_attack.jpg H4 Security Issues In scenario of H4 Company some outsider hacker, an outsider hacker such as a competitor or any unsatisfied staff member can use DoS techniques to destroy business communication or smooth operational arrangement. As a result, business can face severe problems. Solution Appropriate Security Management Hardware: Application of tracking and security handling servers Software Solution: application of software firewall and antivirus software application 5- Spamming over VoIP Security Issues Similar to traditional email spamming, spamming over VoIP network refers to the unnecessary, undesirable calls from anonymous or malicious phone numbers. In addition, several forms of spamming appear in form of irritating online sales calls, voicemail flooding and messages that bring malwares, viruses and worms. H4 Security Issues In scenario of H4 Company any staff member with illegal intention or a hacker can attack the VoIP network to get illegal access and make some nasty calls or cause damage business’s database through virus attack. Solution Appropriate Security Management Hardware: application of tracking and security handling servers Software Solution: application of software firewall and antivirus software application Staff training solutions: staff security management and handling training in order to ensure security of overall corporate operations and working 6- Call tampering Security Issues In this kind of security attack, VoIP communication signals are controlled to reduce speed of the entire network or totally block the deliverance of call signals, which causes small turbulence all through phone calls in progress like that poor sound quality or long time of static silence. H4 Security Issues In scenario of H4 Company, calls over communication network can be tapped to get access to high level business deal that can be really damaging for the business its reputation. Solution Appropriate Security Management Hardware: application of tracking and security handling servers Software Solution: pplication of software firewall and antivirus software application 7- Man-in-the-middle attacks Security Issues In this kind of network security attacks, the communications over VoIP or call signals are cut off as well as forwarded to a different location. It is expressed as the man-in-the-middle for the reason that the attacker acts as to be either the caller or the receiver with the aim to mislead and deceive. Figure 3- Man in Middle attack Image Source: http://212.219.41.137/studentftpuser445/images/main_the_middle1.jpg H4 Security Issues In scenario of H4 Company, it can be done by any internal staff member or by a competitor. Solution Staff training solutions: staff security management and handling training in order to ensure security of overall corporate operations and working VoIP Security Management As discussed above, VoIP is a modern technology which can provide many benefits to H4 Company. However, there are still many security issues which can affect successful implementation of this modern technology. In order to take complete benefit of this modern technology H4 Company must implement effective security management strategies. This section discusses some of the important methods and techniques which can be adopted by H4 Company to ensure VoIP Security: (JKiNFOLINE; AxVoice; Nash) Firewall and VoIP The majority of firewall applications and their implementations dynamically open and close ports (frequently known as the pinholes) for every specific VoIP communication call. This requires the firewall to determine the VoIP communication and signaling protocols utilized in the network. In scenario of H4 Company we can make use of such protection technique to better manage and handle the security of the VoIP and establish effective communication arrangement. Figure 4- Firewall Solution Image Source: http://static.ddmcdn.com/gif/firewall.gif Intrusion-prevention systems (IPS) Intrusion prevention systems (IPS) offer planned line of defense, mainly beside VoIP communication network predators. In addition, with their deep-packet examination potential, intrusion prevention systems are able to offer stable inspection all the way through numerous network sectors simultaneously, recognizing network traffic predictable inside each sector and changing network directories to malicious packets as well as additional protocol anomalies. In scenario of H4 Company we can implement an intrusion detection system to better ensure the network security. Figure 5- IPS Technology, Image Source: http://www.networksecurityreviews.com/images/ips_implementation2.jpg Software Systems Normally, traditional firewalls do not have potential to fight against VoIP attacks for the reason that VoIP is applied at both signaling and media layers. Thus, in order to secure VoIP systems, the safety device has to be capable to execute VoIP protocols like that MGCP, SIP and H.323, as well as to connect state at the signaling layer with packet flows at the media layer. Multilayer Security In order to protect VoIP network of H4 Company, a multi layered security management and protection strategy should be adopted. In this scenario, the layers of firewall, intrusion prevention and additional layers of security should be implemented as a part of network’s security zones. In this way we can better manage VoIP security at H4 Company. Conclusion Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) is a famous buzzword these days. It is a modern technology based communication or way of data transmission over the phone just around the corner. The major benefit of this technology is that it reduces the expenditures that go together with a traditional phone line, at least at this point of the game. This report has presented a detailed analysis of some of the important security issues in VoIP implementation with respect to H4 Company. This report has also suggested the ways which can be adopted to deal with these security issues. Works Cited AxVoice. Security Measures While Using VoIP. 22 February 20120. 28 January 2012 . Dempster, Barrie. VoIP Security Methodology and Results. 2007. 24 January 2012 . Garden, S. What is VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol)? 2011. 21 January 2011 . Grilli, J. 8 Voip Security Problems to Look Out For. 12 February 2008. 20 January 2012 . JKiNFOLINE. VoIP Security Measures. 2010. 27 January 2012 . Karapantazis, Stylianos and Fotini-Niovi Pavlidou. "VoIP: A comprehensive survey on a promising technology." Computer Networks: The International Journal of Computer and Telecommunications Networking, Volume 53 Issue 12 (2009): 2050-290. Kuhn, D. Richard, Thomas J. Walsh and Steffen Fries. Security Considerations for Voice Over IP Systems. January 2005. 25 January 2012 . Nash, Jason. Networking Essentials, MCSE Study Guide. California: IDG Books Worldwide, Inc, 2000. Stone, Adam. VoIP Security Issues on the Rise. 31 December 2009. 28 January 2012 . Swale, R. P. "VoIP — Panacea or PIG's Ear?" BT Technology Journal, Volume 19 Issue 2 (2011): 9-22. Unuth, Nadeem. Security Threats In VoIP. 2011. 25 January 2012 . VoIPprovidersList. Security Issues with VoIP. 30 April 2009. 25 January 2012 . Read More