By: Nissar Jagani
Perhaps not. But it is a fact that if somebody wants to, he can tap every VoIP call you make. This would be an invasion on your privacy but not much harmful if you were making small talk with your friends or inquiring about the health of your uncle Frank.
On the other hand, if you were making a business call in which you exchanged sensitive information and if that phone was tapped, this could have serious consequences for you.
While snooping is also possible on the traditional landline phones, it is not that easy to carry out. The criminal needs to physically fiddle with your phone line cable to introduce a tapping device. This carries more risk of exposure than the tapping of a VoIP phone. A snooper can do the nefarious work anonymously sitting in front of his computer at home. And he can get at you three ways - through your internet service provider, VoIP service provider or your own pc if there is any security lapse at any of these points.
As data theft has been attracting much attention, ISPs and VoIP service providers have become very security conscious and take very sturdy measures to protect their servers. So it is difficult, if not impossible, to get at them but a home pc can very much become an easy target.
Does this mean making VoIP calls is not safe?
No, VoIP is not unsafe as such. However remember that VoIP works through internet and is prone to all the threats and attacks that are associated with internet - viruses, identity theft, phishing, spam, spyware. In other words your VoIP phone is as safe as your pc.
If your pc can be attacked so can be your VoIP system with the result that somebody could steal your password to make phone calls, send you spam telemarketer calls or disable your pc by dos attacks as well as listen to your phone calls.
Can All This Happen To You?
In theory anything is possible. And some, if not all, of these unpleasant things can happen to you if somebody targets you specifically. Otherwise there is very little likelihood that your VoIP phone would be tapped or somebody would be using your account to make long-distance calls.
This means that you need not worry too much when making a VoIP call. But it doesn't mean that you should disregard security measures altogether.
Consider security like insurance. You don't expect to be knocked down while crossing the street or have a head-on collision while driving. Even then most everybody thinks it a good idea of having some sort of life or accident insurance. It is the same with VoIP or pc security. Hopefully nobody would hack your VoIP system or pc. But what if somebody does?
What to do As VoIP travels on the internet which reaches you normally through your pc, this is where the security should begin. So secure your pc and you should have secure VoIP. And for that you have to do a few things.
First of all set a security level of your browser which is the gateway to everything that enters your pc by way of internet. The levels on IE range from High to Low. Decide on the level you are comfortable with.
Next on the line of defense are firewall and antivirus. They catch any nasty that goes past the browser security. Get antivirus software which updates itself to meet the new threats that emerge. And remember to turn on your firewall and antivirus before you access the internet.
Passwords are the keys to your pc and online accounts. Make it a point to use passwords that are not easy to hack. And when you have created such strong passwords, take care to protect them.
If you are using VoIP phone to make sensitive business calls, use an adapter to connect your phone directly to the internet without going through your pc. This way your VoIP phone is insulated from the attacks that your pc may come under.
Do all this and your VoIP phone should be safe in most cases. But never let down your guard. Develop a security consciousness - be on the alert to learn about the threats that emerge and the ways to combat them. This is true of not only VoIP security but any security concern in our life.
