Use your phone system to be more secure and ensure efficiency
Your phone system is an important tool for providing security against hacking and making sure that your staff is operating efficiently. Companies that use these tools effectively keep costs low, increase revenues and get the best performance out of their employees. We will address the first of these issues in this month’s blog by dealing with security issues first.
Security – Technological advances with SIP and IP phone systems have attracted a new generation of hackers who try to gain access to your phone system/networks to make calls on your dime. Most people believed that with the continued reductions in phone costs that hacking into phone systems and networks was on the decline and no longer a threat. However, many phone vendors do not always employ best business practices in regards to phone security. Additionally, there are a growing number of applications available to hackers to discover weaknesses in your phone network and take advantage of them. No network can be 100% secure, but It is important to work with your phone vendor to make sure you are both doing all that you can do to limit security threats.
* SIP Passwords – many phone systems/networks now use SIP technology for trunks and phones. It is critical to make sure that any SIP Registration passwords used for trunks and/or phones are long and difficult to prevent intrusion.
* Intrusion Detection – Does your phone system or service provide any type of intrusion detection? Hackers use automated programs to try to register as SIP devices on your network by trying multiple login and password combinations. Whenever possible, your systems and services should have the ability to detect this type of threat and block it by alerting you to what is going on or locking out access after excessive wrong password attempts.
* Excessive Use Alerts – many carriers monitor phone use just like credit card companies – looking for excessive spikes in usage, or calling patterns to places you normally don’t call.
ComRes uses industry best practices to ensure that we have strong passwords on systems/devices that are vulnerable to security threats. Many of the systems we deploy spot multiple incorrect password attempts and then alert us or lock out subsequent attempts to protect against abuse.
