Creating a Secured Unified Communications Strategy
The task of creating a secured unified communications (UC) strategy might seem overwhelming. But with VOIP the convenience of email, instant messaging, web collaboration apps, voicemail, and video means that businesses today are taking on the challenge. In doing so, however, leading businesses are realizing the importance of making the change with security as their top priority.
Valid Concerns
Here are the common security concerns businesses today face with UC:
- IP-based security concerns
- Mobile usage and password security
- Data access and usage
- The risks of data loss on public access points
- Software and application usage and storage
While your small business may not have the means to implement the sophisticated and costly communications security measures that large organizations can afford, this doesn’t mean you’ll be left to face the threats unarmed. There are many simple and effective solutions you can implement.
Securing Individual Mobile Devices
Authentication
Investigate ways to authenticate each device your employees will be using. Once you’ve found the tool that suits your organization, implement it and only allow access to authenticated devices.
Encryption
Unlike communication exchanged within your brick and mortar location, messages and data sent over the internet aren’t going just to the intended recipient, they are traveling through many servers. Implementing end-to-end message and data encryption ensures your messages and data remain encrypted from the time they are sent to the time they are received, minimizing the chances of sensitive information falling into hostile hands lurking on the internet.
Lock and Kill
Require that every device to be used has a remote lock in place before authenticating it, as well as a remote kill button to be employed in case it is lost.
Securing the UC System
Use a UC Server Protected by a Firewall
If you rely on a web server, you won’t have the ability to sort out traffic. However, if you install a server designed to deal with unified communications, and sequester it behind a firewall, you will be able to admit into your network traffic from trusted sources while blocking the rest.
Block Failed Registration Attempts
Many UC servers come with built-in security tools such as the ability to block any IP addresses that make and consecutively fail registration attempts.
Install Updates
Conducting the regular updates will ensure that you have corrected any bugs found after the software was released, as well as apply any security patches necessitated by ongoing hacking attempts as they are discovered. Before updating, schedule a maintenance window so your users will know the system will be unavailable during that time frame. Also, be sure to back up your system before you begin.
Use it or Lose it
Turn off all unused features, ports, and services. Not only will this improve the security of your network by eliminating potential attack portals, it will lessen the drain on your bandwidth by removing potential protocol traffic.
As with anything involving the internet, you’ll have to stay tuned for further complications, but implementing these practices should give you the real-time comfort of knowing you have done all you presently can to put a secure unified communications system in place.
