As predicted by many, VoIP's day has come. And while the technology makes its way into the businesses, and now homes, of more and more users across the world, one area of increasing concern is security.

 

While security is an important subject for the IT departments managing enterprise networks, securing residential VoIP services is also important and much needed.

 

As the number of residential VoIP users increases to more than 267 million by 2012, according to a recent report by ABI research, (this is an increase from the 38 million worldwide residential subscribers noted by the firm last year) the need for security cannot be ignored.

 

The major concern withVoIP-specific security attacks is that they allow unauthorized packets to run over the network, this means performance and service can potentially be degraded also VoIP scams, phishing and Denial of Service (DoS) attacks can take place if a system is not properly protected.

 

In fact, one of the predictions for 2007 made by Mark Collier, CTO of SecureLogix Corporation and founding member of the VoIP Security Alliance (News - Alert) in his VoIP Security Blog and reported by TMCnet is that, "Social threats such as voice phishing and voice SPAM will start to emerge. They will not be common, but their threat level will grow with the increasing adoption of VoIP. Social engineering attacks could start to become disruptive in late 2007."

 

voip.com, a provider of residential and business VoIP Internet phone service, offers via their Website, tips to help beef up security in 2007.  

 

A main concern they point to is that hackers find residential VoIP users to be an especially easy target as they lack an IT department specialized in monitoring and constantly arming the system from new types of attacks. For this reason, residential VoIP security is critical.

 

voip.com urges customers to become more "security aware" and to realize that the kind of security needed to protect their system does not come standard, so precautions need to be taken.

 

"Even though your computer might have its firewall turned on, that doesn’t mean your network is safe," the company notes in a recent news release. "For that you need to turn on WEP (Wired Equivalent Privacy) or some version of WPA Wi-Fi Protected Access)."

 

They also urge customers to be wary of such things as calls and emails from automatic systems that appear to be a company one is associated with, and where personal information or account numbers are requested. As a tip they advise customers to call the company directly using a valid phone number like that on the back of a credit card.

 

Other VoIP tips offered via their Website and focusing on security include protection from Vishers and turning on your firewall.