In a world of unified networks, phones are easy prey for hackers

Unified communications—bundling all communications channels on a single IP platform—offers the promise of simplified IT management and cost savings, because an enterprise has to maintain and manage a single network rather than separate networks for voice and data. But as voice becomes just another data service, phones are being increasingly exposed to threats from the Internet.

Denial of service attacks against phone systems, or TDOS, have become more frequent in the past two years, and a report from SecureLogix on Voice and Unified Communications predicts that the problem is likely to get worse before it gets better.

“In the future, these attacks will be much more severe,” the company warns. “By simply generating more calls or using more entry points to the UC network, many more calls can be generated, resulting in a very expensive attack or one which degrades the performance of a contact center, rendering access unavailable to legitimate callers.”