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UC & VIOP
Moving to VoIP
Paul German, CEO, VoipSec
www.voip-sec.com
The future of IP security in evolving
communications networks
IT infrastructure has undergone a fundamental
transformation in the last decade. In particular, the move
to Voice Over IP (VoIP) for many businesses has made
communication faster, cheaper and more scalable. Not to
mention it’s a flexible solution that can grow with business
needs. It's a proven concept and the adoption of it is
increasing year on year.
In 2015, BT boldly announced that they would be switching
off their PSTN and ISDN networks by the end of 2025, giving
their customers a decade to make the switch to VoIP network.
But as with the adoption of any new technology, there are
sticking points and issues that must be taken into account,
and one of the biggest considerations is VoIP Security.
In parallel, according to Michael Dell, Chairman and CEO
at Dell Technologies, software defined centres will become,
“pretty much de facto standard” in the next five to 10 years.
This isn’t particularly revolutionary with virtualised hardware,
network function virtualisation (NFV) and software defined
networking (SDN) decoupling the hardware and network
infrastructure from the application. So, it would seem that the
era of dedicated hardware-based solutions is over. Again, that
is, until we look at VoIP security.
The fundamental flaw
Traditionally, hardware-based Session Border Controllers (SBC)
have secured the VoIP network from various threats such as
PBX hacking and voicemail hacking. However, a hardware-
based, ‘install once’ approach doesn’t work in an IP-based
landscape that is ever changing and faces continually
evolving threats.
A hardware-based SBC can't go into the cloud. It sits in
stark contrast to today’s software-defined, virtualised IT
infrastructure. A hardware-based SBC is outdated, expensive
and completely contradicts the reason for adopting a VoIP
network in the first place. If anything, it compromises the
evolution of the IT infrastructure and adds untenable business
risk.
A cloud-based SBC
Fortunately, a security solution does exist. Software defined
SBCs that can sit in the cloud provide a security solution for
any size of business that matches the flexibility of the cloud,
along with offering continuous updates and collaboration
to respond to and protect against emerging threats. The
latest generation of virtual, cloud-based SBCs – deployed
either directly within a customer environment such as NFV,
or through a service provider with a SDN capability – offers
organisations the ability to quickly, easily, and cost-effectively
achieve a base level of security. This can also be overlaid with
more advanced functionality to protect against the latest
security threats.
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