New secure VoIP offering from Alcatel-Lucent
More and more organizations are looking to harness the cost-savings offered by VoIP – as well as the productivity benefits of voice-based IP applications – however many still lack awareness about the associated security risks.
The reality is that organizations deploying insecure VoIP systems risk falling victim to voice tapping and manipulation, which can result in identify theft, spoofing, loss of sensitive data, denial of service attacks and eavesdropping. Successful hackers can even shut down, jam, takeover voice networks or use voice security vulnerabilities at the perimeter as an easy initiation point to attack the data network.
Alcatel-Lucent’s new secure voice offering – comprising its VPN Firewall Brick platform with an Alcatel-Lucent IP telephony platform – is designed to combat the growth of call hacking and data theft, protecting corporate networks in the process.
Aimed at organisations with 100+ employees, the offering safeguards and guarantees quality-of-service for VoIP calls and protects web-facing IP telephony applications such as contact centre, mobility and unified communications tools.
Packet-based communications such as VoIP are particularly vulnerable to attacks and illegal use. A wide range of security products are available to help secure VoIP – however, many commonly used solutions such as stateful inspection firewalls and intrusion detection systems only offer limited defences. Consequently, more than 100 vulnerabilities have so far been discovered in some of the most popular VoIP systems.
In contrast, the Alcatel-Lucent VPN Firewall Brick security platform – a Bell Labs-designed, hardened security solution originally created to secure the US government’s classified networks – has no known reported vulnerabilities or CERTS.
The Brick platform provides multiple layers of protection designed to mitigate the vulnerabilities associated with VoIP deployment. In particular, it offers dynamic “pin-holing’, whereby the solution monitors the call setup and only opens the necessary ports for authorized communications. This ensures networks are secured against a range of threats, without compromising the quality, performance or reliability of the network.