Securing VoIP
Voice over IP (VoIP) technology translates analog voice signals into a stream of digitalized packets and sends them to recipients over data (or IP) networks. In other words, VoIP enables for instance, making telephone calls over the Internet.
VoIP is growing in popularity, which has also raised some concerns about security.
Since VoIP uses the same paths as the network and Internet traffic, it faces the same challenges
and threats that are more commonly linked with the Internet. Viruses, worms, trojan horses,
Denial-of-Service attacks, and hijacking are all possible threats on the VoIP network. Voice
traffic can now be attacked, hacked, intercepted, re-routed, and degraded just like any data packet
on the data network.
The convergence of voice, data and video traffic to a single network also means that the amount of traffic in the IP networks, criticality of traffic and complexity of the network are all increasing.
In order to take full advantage of these new technologies, the security and network
infrastructure have to support them and tackle the challenges emerging from the use of these
technologies.
With StoneGate you not only address security by preventing eavesdropping, hijacking and alteration of data but you also ensure quality and priority for your communications. This leads to higher user satisfaction and simplified administration.
Challenges
Security
Unencrypted VoIP connections are prone to eavesdropping and other common threats in IP networks
StoneGate Solution: VoIP connections can be encrypted with StoneGate Firewall & VPN, which secures your communications so they are not vulnerable to e.g. eavesdropping and alteration of data.
Reliability
Users expect the same reliability from IP networks that they have had in traditional networks and this is often not the case. Connections are not reliable, and network devices become single points of failure.
StoneGate Solution: With StoneGate’s patented Multi-Link Technology you can ensure that the VoIP connections are resilient and have the best possible performance. Also StoneGate Firewall & VPN is fully clusterable, eliminating single points of failure in the communication path.
Bandwidth
VoIP applications may require a lot of bandwidth and disrupt the use of other protocols.
StoneGate Solution: With Bandwidth Management and Quality of Service, StoneGate provides you with the capability to prioritize important traffic or set limits on traffic that has lower importance.
Secure Configuration
There may be difficulties trying to keep the number of open ports to a minimum and performing NAT to private addresses to increase security.
StoneGate Solution: Supporting SIP as the signalling protocol for VoIP StoneGate ensures that only the ports necessary for communication are open and no extra ones are needed. Also NAT is handled gracefully and transparently by StoneGate.
Maintenance
People expect VoIP services to be available when needed, therefore maintenance windows become disturbing critical service breaks.
StoneGate Solution: Since StoneGate is a high-availability solution, it means that maintenance can be done during business hours without any need to disrupt the traffic and without the users even noticing.
Management
As networks become larger and more complex, and the traffic more critical, managing these systems is complicated at best.
StoneGate Solution: StoneGate’s centralized and easy-to-use management simplifies administration tasks. This means that administrators can manage more devices with fewer resources.
Misuse
Connectivity may be used for non-business-related and malicious purposes.
StoneGate Solution: through protocol validation and misuse detection StoneGate protects your communications from malicious traffic. Bandwidth management guarantees that important traffic always has priority over non-business-related, if so desired.