VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) security refers to the measures taken to protect VoIP systems and networks from unauthorized access, hacking, and other forms of cyberattacks. VoIP systems can be vulnerable to various types of threats, such as denial-of-service attacks, eavesdropping, and caller ID spoofing. To ensure the security of a VoIP system, it is important to be aware of these vulnerabilities and implement best practices for protecting against them.
One of the best practices for securing VoIP systems is to use encryption to protect the data transmitted over the network. This can include using secure protocols such as SRTP (Secure Real-time Transport Protocol) and TLS (Transport Layer Security) for voice and signalling data. Additionally, it is important to use firewalls and other security measures to protect against unauthorized access to the system.
Another important aspect of VoIP security is to keep the system and its components updated with the latest security patches and software updates. Regularly monitoring and assessing the system for vulnerabilities can help identify and address potential security issues before they can be exploited.
Finally, it is important to have an incident response plan in place, in case of a security breach. This includes identifying critical data and system components, establishing procedures for managing and responding to security incidents, and providing training and awareness to employees on how to report and respond to potential security threats.
In summary, VoIP security is a critical aspect of any VoIP system and requires a combination of technical and administrative measures. By understanding the vulnerabilities and implementing best practices, organizations can ensure the security of their VoIP systems and protect against cyber-attacks.
In 2021, losses from IP PBX hacking have risen to $1.82 billion, a 28% increase from 2019. As threats become more unpredictable and the risks associated with remote work increase, it is crucial to prioritise security. VoIP hacking and attacks can originate from the Internet or telephone lines, exploiting vulnerabilities and exposing your organisation to toll fraud and the theft of confidential information.
To safeguard your business-critical PBX system from potential network threats and internal misconduct, this blog will explore essential security policies and the innovative services and features offered by Cloud Central PBX System that effectively protect you from attacks.
Table of Contents:
- Overview of VoIP Vulnerabilities and Attacks
- VoIP PBX Security Checklist
- Network Security Threats and Best Practices
- SIP Communication Risks and IP Endpoint Security
- VoIP Security Contingency Planning
- Security Solutions for PBX Remote Access and Communications
- Tunnelling Services for PBX End Users
- Device Remote Management for PBX Resellers, MSPs, and Providers.
- Understanding the potential vulnerabilities and common types of cyberattacks is crucial for protecting your VoIP PBX phone system from security breaches.
Some common VoIP vulnerabilities include:
- Weak or easily compromised login credentials
- Existence of backdoors and vulnerabilities in applications
- Lack of proper access controls
- Unsecured connections
- Human error leading to data breaches.
Cyberattacks targeting VoIP systems include:
- Toll Fraud: An attack in which unauthorised international calls are made from your VoIP network, resulting in charges to your organisation. The purpose is to make a high volume of calls to premium rate numbers and collect the revenue generated.
- Reconnaissance: An attack in which an attacker gathers information about a target to identify vulnerabilities and weaknesses that can be exploited in the future.
- Denial-of-Service (DoS): Flooding a server with excessive requests, overwhelming its capacity, and rendering it unavailable to users. Disrupting access to online services or websites by overwhelming the server’s resources.
- Spoofing: An attack in which the attacker disguises themselves as a reputable entity to gain access to personal information or steal data.
- Man-in-the-Middle: An attack in which an attacker intercepts and monitors communication between two parties, stealing sensitive information such as login credentials and credit card numbers.
- Spam Over Internet Telephony (SPIT): An attack that involves sending large numbers of unsolicited, automated calls and voicemails over VoIP to internet-connected phones, with the intention of tricking the victim into answering or listening, resulting in high international calling charges.
VoIP Security Best Practices: Protecting Your Phone System
With the constant evolution of cyberattacks, it is crucial to implement robust security measures to safeguard your VoIP phone system. A multi-layered approach, incorporating multiple defence mechanisms, is often the most effective way to secure a PBX system. This approach provides multiple layers of protection, ensuring ongoing defence even if one layer is breached.
The following are key steps to take in securing your VoIP phone system:
Stay Current with PBX and SIP Endpoint Updates
Keeping your PBX and SIP endpoints updated with the latest firmware or software version can provide an added layer of security against potential threats. Newer versions often include security patches for known vulnerabilities and may also include new security features. As technology evolves, it is important to ensure that you are running the most recent version to ensure full protection.
Secure Your Network
Your organisation’s network is the first line of defence against cybercrime. If a hacker can gain access to the network that supports VoIP communications, it can lead to Denial of Service (DoS) attacks or a decrease in the Quality of Service (QoS). To prevent this, it is crucial to restrict access to the PBX’s intranet and block any unauthorized connections.
Prevent Unauthorized Access to Your PBX
Preventing unauthorised access to your PBX is a crucial step in protecting your system from hacking attempts and minimizing potential damage and financial losses to your organization. By blocking unwanted and unauthorized access, you can greatly reduce the risk of a successful hack.
Limit Access to the PBX Administrator Portal
The Cloud Central P-Series PBX System is equipped with three pre-configured role-based accounts: Super Admin, Administrator, and Custom User. Each account has a set of specific administrative privileges. Additionally, you can create custom roles with tailored privileges to meet individual user needs. Only users with administrative privileges can access the administrator portal to configure system features that are specific to their roles.
Limit System Access from Specific Countries or Regions
If you observe an increase in attacks on your PBX coming from a particular country or region, you can implement geographic restrictions (also known as geo-blocking) to block access to the PBX from those areas. By cross-referencing a visitor’s IP address with the PBX’s database, unauthorized access can be prevented.
Limit system access with Firewall rules
The Cloud Central P-Series PBX System has built-in firewall rules to only accept trusted traffic. Additionally, you can create custom firewall rules on your PBX to permit or block traffic from specific source IP addresses/domains, ports, and MAC addresses. By implementing these rules, suspicious access that could lead to attack fraud or call loss can be automatically blocked.
To defend against large numbers of connection attempts or brute force attacks, you can use the PBX’s built-in IP-Auto-Defence feature to set limits on the number of IP packets that can be received from a specific IP address within a certain time frame. If any IP exceeds this limit, the system will automatically block that IP.
Mitigate SIP Communications Risks
A SIP trunk is commonly used to transmit voice data between your organization and the intended recipient. Interference with this communication can cause issues such as poor call quality, disconnections, and unauthorized access to the call. To protect SIP trunks, it is advisable to restrict outgoing calls and encrypt all calls.
Implementing varying regulations for outbound calls based on specific time periods, for example, during working hours, after-hours, and weekends.
It is common for hackers to attempt to gain access to systems during non-business hours, weekends, and holidays when the system may be less attended. One way to mitigate this risk is to use the Time Condition feature to implement different inbound or outbound call restriction rules for different time periods. This can help to reinforce automatic control and limit the potential for successful hacking attempts. For example, you can create a Time Condition called “Holidays” and disable outbound calls during holidays by applying the Time Condition to an outbound route.
Permission to only those who need it
One way to limit the risk of a successful hacking attempt is to only give access to the system to those who need it. This principle is known as the principle of least privilege, and it means that users are only given the minimum level of access necessary to perform their job duties. By limiting the number of users who have access to the system, you can reduce the potential attack surface and make it more difficult for a hacker to gain unauthorized access. Additionally, regularly reviewing and revoking access for users who no longer need it can also help to limit the risk of a successful hacking attempt.
Limit outbound call frequency
Setting limits on the number of outbound calls that can be made within a certain time interval is one way to prevent unauthorized use of your phone system. This can be done by setting a maximum number of calls per day, week, or month for each agent or user. You can also set limits on the number of concurrent calls that can be made at any given time, which can prevent hackers from making a large volume of calls all at once
Limit call credit and cancel auto refill
Limiting call credit and cancelling auto-refill are additional measures that can be taken to prevent unauthorized use of your phone system.
Limiting call credit means setting a maximum amount of money that can be spent on calls for each agent or user. This can be done by setting a monetary limit for each account and disabling the ability for the account to make calls once that limit has been reached. This can prevent hackers from racking up large charges on your phone system.
Cancelling auto-refill means disabling the automatic replenishment of call credit for each account. This ensures that hackers cannot continue to make calls even after the credit limit has been reached, as the account will not be refilled automatically.
It is also important to monitor the usage of your phone system regularly and investigate any unusual activity. If you suspect that your phone system has been compromised, it is important to take immediate action to prevent further unauthorized use.
Encrypt Calls
Encrypting calls is a way to ensure that the communication over your phone system is secure and protected from eavesdropping. Encryption is the process of converting plaintext (i.e., unencrypted data) into a coded format called ciphertext, which is unreadable to anyone without the proper decryption key.
Transport Layer Security (TLS) to encrypt signalling is a way to secure the communication between your phone system and users. By enabling TLS, a certificate is used to authenticate the connection and to prevent unauthorized access. This ensures that user information such as names and phone numbers are hidden and protected from being intercepted by unauthorized parties.
Using Secure Real-time Transport Protocol (SRTP) to encrypt the call data as it is transmitted over the network.
It’s important to note that to encrypt calls both endpoints of the call need to have the capability to encrypt and decrypt calls, otherwise the call will not be encrypted, and the conversation can be intercepted
Additionally, it is also important to regularly update the encryption keys used to protect the calls, to protect against hacking attempts to break the encryption.
Harden SIP Extensions
Securing or “hardening” SIP (Session Initiation Protocol) extensions refers to implementing additional security measures to protect the communication between your phone system and users.
Use Strong Passwords
Using strong passwords is a crucial aspect of securing your PBX system. A weak password can leave your system vulnerable to hacking attempts, and it is important to ensure that strong passwords are used for every feature that requires one. This includes passwords for extension registrations, the administration web interface, user web interfaces, and voicemails.
Implementing a robust password policy and implementing restrictions on extension registration can aid in securing SIP extensions. This can include mandating complex passwords that are hard to crack, regularly updating passwords and avoiding the use of same passwords and limiting the number of registrations per extension to prevent unauthorized access to the system. These steps can assist in protecting your PBX system from hacking attempts and unauthorized access to the SIP extensions.
To create strong passwords, it is recommended to use a combination of upper and lowercase letters, numbers, and special characters. Passwords should also be at least 8 characters long. Avoid using easily guessable information such as your name, birthdate, or common words.
It is also important to regularly update your passwords and to avoid reusing the same password across multiple accounts. Furthermore, it is a good practice to use a password manager tool that can help you generate and store strong passwords securely.
Additionally, you can also use two-factor authentication (2FA) to add an additional layer of security for logging into your PBX system. This ensures that even if a password is compromised, it will still be difficult for an attacker to gain access to the system.
Restrict Extension Registration
The Cloud Central PBX System has built-in security measures to protect against hacking attempts and unauthorized access to SIP registration. Such measures include limiting extension registration to a local area network (LAN) only and blocking IP addresses that have made too many failed registration attempts. Additionally, there are options available to further enhance security, such as implementing a robust password policy, restricting extension registration, and using encryption to protect data being transmitted over the network.
Imposing restrictions on the IP addresses from which extensions can register is a security measure that can be implemented to protect your PBX system. This can include allowing registration only from specific IP addresses or ranges of IP addresses, or blocking IP addresses that have made too many failed registration attempts. Another measure is to use a complex authentication name that is different from the default username, which makes it more difficult for hackers to guess the right username. Additionally, you can also restrict the registration based on the phone’s user agent. This means that only specific types of phones or devices will be allowed to register with the system, and any others will be blocked. These measures can help prevent unauthorized access to the system and protect your PBX from hacking attempts.
Make Contingency Plans
In the event that an attacker successfully gains access to your PBX system or causes it to malfunction, it is important to have aa well-defined contingency plan in place can help to minimize the impact of a security breach and ensure that your phone system is back up and running as quickly as possible.
Implementing real-time monitoring, logging, and alerts for system events is an important security measure for your PBX system. This includes setting up systems to continuously monitor the system for any unusual activity and to automatically log any events that occur. Additionally, alerts can be configured to notify administrators or other designated personnel of any suspicious or critical events in real-time. This allows for prompt detection and response to any security breaches or other issues. By continuously monitoring, logging, and alerting on system events, it becomes possible to detect and respond to potential security threats as they happen, and to take appropriate actions to protect your PBX system and its users.
Scheduling automatic backups for your PBX system is an important step in protecting your data and ensuring that it can be recovered in the event of a system failure or security breach. Automatic backups can be scheduled to occur at regular intervals, such as daily or weekly, and can be configured to include all system settings, data, and configurations. It is important to store the backup files in a secure and separate location, such as a cloud storage, to prevent unauthorised access or accidental deletion. Additionally, it is also important to test the backups regularly to ensure that they can be successfully restored in the event of a system failure. Having a reliable and up-to-date backup of your PBX system can help to minimize the impact of a security breach or system failure and ensure that your data and settings can be quickly restored.
Implementing a backup retention policy is an important aspect of maintaining the security and integrity of your PBX system’s backups. This involves setting a limit on the number of backups that will be kept and stored, and regularly removing or archiving older backups that are no longer needed. This helps to prevent unauthorized access to historical data and reduce the risk of data breaches or accidental exposure of sensitive information. This retention policy also helps to optimize the storage space and to avoid keeping unnecessary data. Additionally, it is important to review and update the backup retention policy regularly to ensure that it aligns with the organisation’s data retention and compliance requirements.
It is also important to note that this retention policy should be applied to all the backups, including the ones that are stored on a separate location, such as a cloud storage.
Implement a Redundancy Solution
Implementing a redundancy solution is an important step in protecting your PBX system from outages or other disruptions. A redundancy solution refers to the use of multiple systems or components in a network that can take over in the event of a failure or outage of the primary system
Hot Standby for on-premises PBX System (Hardware & Software-based)
Hot standby is a type of redundancy solution that can be implemented for on-premises PBX systems. It involves having a secondary or backup system that is ready to take over in the event of a failure or outage of the primary system. This can include both hardware-based and software-based solutions.
Hardware-based hot standby solutions involve having a secondary PBX system that is kept in a standby mode, ready to take over if the primary system fails. This can include having a duplicate PBX system on-site or having a remote PBX system that can take over in the event of a failure.
Software-based hot standby solutions involve having a secondary PBX system that is run on virtual machines or in the cloud and can take over in the event of a failure of the primary system. This allows for fast and seamless failover, with minimal interruption in service.
It is important to note that, both hardware and software-based hot standby solutions require careful planning and testing to ensure that the failover process is seamless, and that the secondary system is fully configured and ready to take over when needed.
Hot standby is a great solution for ensuring a high level of availability and protecting against the risk of PBX system failure.
The Cloud Central on-premises PBX system includes the Hot Standby feature at no additional cost, allowing you to establish a mirror server pair and quickly recover in case of failure
With Hot Standby on your Cloud Central PBX system, you can achieve:
Rapid automatic recovery within 1-10 seconds in case of any failure, minimizing interruption to your service.
Shared virtual IP between the paired active and hot-standby PBX servers, enabling a seamless switch to the standby server in case of failure, including all IP phones and third-party integrations connected to the PBX.
Instant notifications via email or call when a failover event occurs, allowing you to take immediate action and keep track of any issues that may arise.
Improved reliability and security for your PBX system, minimizing the impact of a failure and ensuring continuity of service for your customers and employees.
Keep your PBX system running smoothly and ensure continuity of service for your customers and employees
It is important to note that you need to keep both servers up to date and in sync for the hot standby feature to work properly.
High Availability for Cloud PBX
High availability refers to the ability of a system to remain operational and available even in the event of a failure or disruption
across the globe, adding more resilience to the entire service. There are more built-in security mechanisms in place to safeguard against malicious attacks.
Secure Your VoIP Communications from Today
Organizations that take steps to secure their voice traffic are better equipped to handle security threats. Cloud Central has teamed with Yeastar, a reputable provider of PBX systems, offers reliable and secure solutions for modern businesses. With over 15 years of experience in the VoIP industry, Yeastar offers both Cloud and hardware/software-based phone systems with the necessary functionality, flexibility, and security for business growth. Trust Yeastar’s industry-leading products and services and reach out to us for more information.
