Security is a low priority among most small and midsized businesses (SMBs), as well as vendors, when it comes to Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP - Internet telephony), experts say. That will quickly change once hackers take aim, however.
As with anything, the risk [of a security breach] is theoretical risk right now," Ridolfo said. He said today it's much easier to write a virus or steal data off a file-sharing system than it is to build an exploit for VoIP.
"Does that mean someone isn't working on it right now? No," Ridolfo said. "A high-profile attack, such as a single, crucially important phone call, that will be intercepted, whether it is commercial or government. Then you'll see a bunch of those in short succession. Then there will be a big push to introduce security."
Voice is just as vulnerable to exploits as data communication, Ostrowski said, "because at the end of the day it's running over an IP network and it's 'packetized' data."
One analyst was surprised by how many SMBs said they felt VoIP was secure.(more)
