Introduction
The seamless integration, flexibility, scalability, and cost savings introduced by Voice Over Internet Protocol have made them prevalent and embraced in the modern business and communication world. However, security challenges caused by such technologies cannot be ignored. An organization that relies on and utilizes VoIP and related systems should gain a detailed insight into the associated risks and threats and design and implement mitigation measures to maintain a secure and resilient infrastructure.
Why do you think VoIP telephony systems have become so prevalent? What special risks do they pose to the enterprise?
Ease of use, better scalability, savings on costs, and more flexibility are the primary reasons why VoIP telephony systems have become so prevalent today. VoIP telephony systems need zero or minimal hardware, replacing installation and hardware costs. The technology also helps a business scale its operations as it expands because of the minimal hardware needed. Thus, multiple phone numbers can be added. The greater flexibility associated with the technology allows an individual to receive and make calls from anywhere using any device with an internet connection (Kumar & Roy, 2021). The technological solution is also easy to understand and use. Special risks include DDoS attacks, phishing, viruses and malware, and call tampering. Scammers can use the technology to encourage organization customers to verify their identity, resulting in the sharing of private and sensitive information. VoIP can expose a business to distributed denial-of-service attacks with the indefinite or temporary disruption of services, making the network unavailable. Call tampering will make communication incomprehensible, with hackers aiming to disrupt ongoing calls. Viruses and malware threats can be increased by embracing VoIP, with criminals’ chances of accessing a business’s entire system increasing.
What are some techniques to hack answering machines and messaging systems?
Hackers can compromise messaging and machine systems, resulting in expensive surprises for businesses and customers. The systems compromise will help such hackers steal financial and personal information and access social media and financial accounts. Hackers can robocall with a business IP telephony system or use auto-dialing software to hack the systems. Therefore, individuals who will answer to the business or individual phone ID will receive and access pre-recorded messages purported to be from the organization, prompting and requiring them to do certain things. The criminals can also use phishing scams by leaving a voicemail asking for confirmation about important things (Kumar & Roy, 2021). Therefore, any response to such calls may pass verification codes, giving hackers access to a crime referred to as toll fraud. Using fake caller IDs allows hackers to take advantage of the systems because of the trust placed on local or familiar phone numbers with unsuspecting employees sharing critical information. They can also use the insecure network loopholes to eavesdrop and gather private and sensitive information about the business and its employees.
The easiest way hackers gain access to the messaging and answering machine systems is by using present access codes. The vendor sets such a code by default on a particular device. The hackers take advantage of the users’ laxity in changing their device access code despite knowing that such a feature is available. Similar access code schemes that perpetrators embraced over a decade ago are still used in the modern environment.
What are some situations where phone systems might not work? What are some backup plans that an organization can deploy?
The phone systems might fail because of the phone lines’ jamming when too many individuals are concurrently making calls to one number. The activity will impact both VoIP lines and normal phone lines. For instance, the US Postal Office lines may be jammed during Christmas and Thanksgiving holidays. The solution is alternative deployment to ensure that customers can use channels other than phone, including email and chat, to minimize pressure on the primary communication mode (Ylli et al., 2021). The denial-of-service attack may also result in phone systems not working. The attack may send overwhelming requests, resulting in a phone system crash. The solution is an Intrusion Detection System configuration that helps monitor incoming requests and block calls from malicious sources.
The communication towers are damaged, and power outages caused by natural disasters like volcanos, wildfires, hurricanes, storms, tsunamis, and earthquakes may result in phone systems’ failure. The disasters may impact internet connectivity, making it challenging for businesses to utilize VoIP calls. Such disasters rarely happen, but their occurrence result in tremendous damage, making a backup plan and communication disaster recovery strategy integral. For instance, an organization operating in a region with a high probability of catastrophes can embrace a cloud-based VoIP phone system as an alternative to an on-premises VoIP server to act as an integral part of the embraced communication disaster recovery plan. Seamless communication continuity is possible using disaster recovery plans and cloud-based services as backup plans.
What are some challenges for organizations with bring-your-own-device (BYOD) policies? How can these threats be mitigated?
BYOD presents many potential challenges, including unauthorized access, data breach risk, and security challenges, despite improving morale and saving on costs. The concept policies’ primary challenge is malware, with the information technology department losing significant control over hardware. The system administrator does not fully dictate and control programs and applications that human resources install and use, files downloaded, and security embraced. The viruses and malware hidden in such devices can spell a disaster for an organization when they connect with its primary network.
The lack of uniformity challenge with human resources possessing Android or Apple devices results in inconsistency that may complicate management and collaboration. There is a compliance enforcement challenge, with approaches to enforcing compliance and using source devices being more complex than approaches to securing business devices. Personal applications are also more prone to hacking and data theft, with criminals aware that human resources are owned (Kumar & Roy, 2020). The recklessness level when dealing with personal devices is also higher than corporate devices, with employees engaging in practices like unsecured WiFi connection and poor management with policies unable to address such issues adequately. A business can mitigate such risks and challenges by ensuring regular updates, robust and well-designed security systems and processes implementation, ensuring employees encrypt their devices adequately, and embracing mobile device management.
What are some malware infections that target cell phones?
The most popular malware infections targeting cell phones in the modern environment include mobile ransomware, banking malware, mobile spyware, MMS malware, and mobile adware. Hackers have increased their interest in targeting individuals who prefer to perform their banking and finance activities, including bill payments and money transfers via mobile devices (Ylli et al., 2021). They use trojans to infiltrate devices before deploying them, with the malicious installation packages being a critical threat. Mobile ransomware, a vital threat to mobile devices, locks out vital user data, including videos, photos, and documents, by ensuring that such information is encrypted before asking for ransom. Failure to pay the ransom results in permanent lock up or deletion of data; thus, the user will not have access.
Other malware, like mobile spyware, monitors a user’s activity and records his location before lifting important information, including passwords and usernames. The hackers can package the malware and place it in the background to quietly collect the needed data. Therefore, the user will most likely notice the software once the device’s performance degrades. Hackers have also devised methods to exploit and take advantage of text-based communication via MMS malware. A message embedded with malware can be sent to a mobile number with its deployment, resulting in hackers gaining access to the user’s mobile phone. The current and emerging threats impacting user’s mobile phones have offered new avenues for hackers to commit crimes.
Conclusion
The use of VoIP and modern communication technologies may have introduced advanced and transformative communication approaches, but the threats and risks must be managed to enjoy their functionalities. Organizations and individuals should have heightened awareness of the threats and develop effective backup plans and mitigating strategies to counter them. Various security measures to be embraced include regular audits, intrusion detection systems, and robust encryption, helping businesses leverage new technology functionalities without exposing themselves to significant risks.
References
Kumar, V., & Roy, O. P. (2021). Security and Challenges in Voice over Internet Protocols: A Survey. In IOP Conference Series: Materials Science and Engineering (Vol. 1020, No. 1, p. 012020). IOP Publishing.
Ylli, E., Tafa, I., & Cejku, F. (2021). Exploiting VoIP Security Issues In A Classic Scenario. International Journal of Research In Commerce and Management Studies (ISSN: 2582-2292), 3(1), 20-36.
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