VoIP Security Tips

Growing business adoption of cloud-based communication software systems is driving the need for more enhanced and sophisticated VoIP security measures to protect company communications, data, and systems that a growing majority of businesses choose to operate in the cloud.

And VoIP security is certainly no exception.

VoIP has quickly become the most popular business phone system choice among companies small and large, and VoIP security continues to improve and innovate each year. There is no shortage of online threats, so you must put strong security measures in place to protect your systems and support employee education and participation as part of your overall strategy for maintaining your system integrity and security. 

In addition to firewalls, virus and malware prevention, and strong network and systems security, there are also some practices you can adopt in your organization to keep your VoIP security system (and your data) safe and secure. These VoIP security tips will help guide your VoIP security strategy with best practices for protecting your system.

Passwords are a common part of an employee’s work life, and most systems, software, and online apps require password protection. The issue is that people tend to use passwords that are easy for them to remember, which makes them easier to hack and jeopardizes VoIP security. You should set up a password protocol for your VoIP security system that requires complex passwords. 

The more random and nonsensical the password, the more difficult it is to hack or guess. This is a simple measure you can take to easily ramp up your VoIP security and keep it solid by requiring frequent password changes as well. 

Two-factor authentication is an extra security measure you can use to add another layer of validation and protection to your VoIP security systems. With this control in place, employees will be required to enter their password to your VoIP security system and then will need to validate their login by entering a code that’s sent to an approved device they own, such as a smartphone or tablet. Should a password become compromised, this protection helps ensure that the person logging into your system is authenticated with an additional step in the login process. 

If you have remote teams who need access to your VoIP solution, it’s worth setting up an encrypted, Virtual Private Network (VPN), which gives employees secured access to your private VoIP security network, using a public channel. When a user logs into your VoIP security system, they’ll need to validate their access by using two-factor authentication, biometrics, or other cryptographic measures. 

Limiting employee access within your VoIP security system (or other business systems) is a good business practice for protecting your data by only giving employees access to the tools or information they need to perform their role in your company. VoIP systems typically offer access control features that allow you to control what parts of your VoIP security system individual employees can access, which can help you prevent internal fraud or inadvertent data leaks. 

To keep your VoIP security system secure and spending in check, it’s a good idea to set up credit and spending limits in your account. This limits how your VoIP security system can be used and controls call spending. If an unauthorized user does happen to access your VoIP system, they can easily place calls and run up a monthly bill, but with limits in place, the damage can be minimized. 

Another great way to protect your business from external fraud and internal misuse is to control your calling areas. This way, you can minimize the damage if eavesdroppers access your network and attempt to make expensive calls through your VoIP security service. By controlling your calling areas, you can make sure that only verified employees have access to extended calling plans and minimize your risk of extensive, fraudulent costs. 

You should closely monitor all your voice and media traffic taking place over your VoIP network, and understand your typical calling volumes and patterns. This way, you can easily identify if there is activity happening on your network that is out of the ordinary that may be signaling some type of breach or fraud occurring in your system. 

If you have employees who travel frequently or work in different, remote locations, then it may be more difficult to isolate the static IP addresses that should have access to your VoIP security system. However, you can monitor hacking trends, and block IP addresses from particular countries or regions in bulk to protect your system.

You can protect your VoIP security system by whitelisting the IP addresses that are authorized to access and use your VoIP. Doing so will make it much more difficult for anyone using an unauthorized machine to gain access to your system and cause damage. 

According to the Cyberthreat Defense Report for North America and Europe, “low-security awareness continues to be the greatest inhibitor to defending against cyber threats, followed closely by lack of security budget.” 

To best protect your VoIP solution, you must educate all your employees who will be using the VoIP security system and make sure they understand the importance of VoIP security and know all the proper protocols they need to follow to ensure that your company is not compromised. 

Data encryption assures that the data can only be read by those with the ‘key’. Likewise, your business VoIP system should be regarded as data that only those with permissions can access. End-to-end data encryption is offered by most VoIP service providers to assure that the data between your network and VoIP security server stays safe. 

With all these steps to limit VoIP security system breaches being considered, data security is no minor matter. Most leading VoIP security services continue to be on top of the security of their systems to ensure that their clients feel safe. With that being said, you might be wondering what the best VoIP service provider in the market is right now. You can find out using our VoIP system comparison guide and find out what different VoIP security system vendors are doing to ensure the safety of your data. 

About Wheelhouse

Like what you just read? At Wheelhouse, we are passionate about all things VoIP security software, and our specialty is connecting software buyers to a solution that perfectly matches their needs. Please visit our Business VoIP software page for a complete list of all the solutions we have on offer.