VoIP Security Threats Put Financial Institutions at Risk

According to the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation's (FDIC) Financial Institution Letters, financial institutions need to take into account the security risks associated with voice over Internet protocol (VoIP). The FDIC provides the following guidance to protect financial institutions from VoIP security threats:

"VoIP is susceptible to the same security risks as data networks if security policies and configurations are inadequate. The risks associated with VoIP should be evaluated as part of a financial institution's periodic risk assessment, with status reports submitted to the board of directors as mandated by section 501(b) of the Gramm-Leach--Bliley Act (GLBA). Any identified weaknesses should be corrected during the normal course of business."

Financial institutions and other enteprises that don't take precautions to secure their telephone networks expose themselves to potentially enormous telephone bills, plus their system can be rendered unusable by hackers. Anthony Plewes' BusinessMOBILIE Asia article, "VoIP threats to watch out for" states that in addition to attacks focused on VoIP networks, VoIP "will also be affected by all the attacks that cripple data networks, even if they are not deliberately targeting voice over IP."

By deploying a full featured call accounting system enterprises can protect their VoIP, wired, and wireless networks from attack and gain real-time access to all call detail records regardless of where they originate from. Unsecured telephone networks are prime hacker targets and companies often do not know that their networks have been compromised until they receive a large telephone bill listing numerous unauthorized calls. Since today's call accounting systems can provide immediate alerts to suspicious call activity, enterprises can take proactive steps against attacks. The cost of deploying a call accounting system can be more than justified by the security it provides. Companies that depend on today's feature rich call accounting software systems can enjoy peace of mind and free up their IT staff for other critical tasks.