Risk 101 - Lessons in VoIP Deployment Security

By Bob Decker

AS IP TELEPHONY BECOMES the standard of communications for both business and residential users, understanding and mitigating the security risks associated with it become even more paramount. It is important to understand the various threats and how to mitigate each one.

Configuration Consternation. In their default configurations, many of the IP telephony devices may have a variety of exposed TCP and UDP ports. The default services running on the open ports may be vulnerable to distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks, buffer overflows or weak passwords, which may result in compromised IP telephony devices. If any of the open services are not password-protected or have an easily discernible password, an attacker may gain unauthorized access to that device. The Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP) services offered by the devices also may be vulnerable to reconnaissance attacks or buffer overflows. Many IP telephony devices are constructed to periodically download a configuration file from a server through Trivial File Transfer Protocol (TFTP) or other mechanisms. An attacker potentially could divert or spoof this connection and trick the device into downloading a malicious configuration file instead.

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