VoIP: A New Frontier for Security and Vulnerabilities
Introduction to Voice over IP Technology
The promise of extremely cheap telephone service, utilizing the Internet to transmit voice, has made voice over IP an attractive and profitable idea. Vonage (http://www.vonage.com/) and other service providers entice consumers by charging a flat, monthly rate for unlimited long distance in the U.S. and Canada; the rate is often less than it would cost for a regular phone line without any long distance charges. An entity with an enormous call volume, such as a worldwide retail corporation, could benefit from tremendous cost savings by transitioning all of its telephony networks to VoIP.
Voice over IP uses a server to connect all telephones in a local area network and act as a gateway for VoIP packets traveling to and from the Internet. Consumers with broadband internet connections can purchase VoIP handsets or routers with an RJ-11 jack to connect regular telephones. Businesses must implement a VoIP application server to handle corporate telephone use, much like mail servers are used to manage email. The Internet Protocol Private Branch eXchange (IP PBX) is telephone equipment used by private companies, rather than telephone service providers, for the management of VoIP calls placed on the data network. When considering VoIP, organizations should focus on necessary quality of service (QoS) requirements, the cost to implement, and a number of security precautions needed to protect the network (Mullins, 2005).
Protocols
The two most common protocols central to VoIP are Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) and H.323. Both also rely on a number of other protocols, such as DNS and ENUM, in order to locate and navigate to other hosts on the Internet.
SIP first uses either TCP or UDP to signal a host on port 5060; then the Real-Time Transport Protocol (RTP) is used to transmit an audio stream over UDP ports 16384 through 32767 (Mullins, 2005). It is a broader specification, generally used to connect network devices to servers or other kinds of control equipment. SIP supports user authentication and the transmission of any type of media, including audio, video, and messaging.
On the other hand, H.323 is a bit more complex, deri...
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Verizon Wireless cellular service is inelastic because the products and services it offers makes them the dominant leader in the wireless industry; therefore, a 10% change in calling plan prices (monthly access fees) would not affect the quantity demanded. Verizon Wireless can depend on this inelasticity in their pricing model because of the strength of its brand and the wealth of products and services it offers. Verizon Wireless' competitive advantage comes from its ultra-low churn rate (the percentage of customers who disconnect their service is less than one percent of its 60 million customer base). This indicator suggests that customers are satisfied with the service Verizon Wireless offers and a slight price increase probably would not drive its customers to the competition. This data also suggests that customers probably stay with Verizon Wireless because of its continued expansion of new technologies and services such as its all-digital nationwide CDMA network, EVDO' or its advanced data network (used to wireless send and receive email and other data almost anywhere in the US), and VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) that they use for their Push to Talk products. Verizon Wireless markets to a nearly all demographics nationwide and most of its services are offered in the smaller rural markets as a direct result of the one billion dollars per quarter it spends on improving its network as well as acquiring smaller wireless networks to make their nationwide network stronger and larger.
Cisco Designs, manufactures, and sells Internet Protocol (IP) - based networking and other products related to the communications and information technology (IT) industry and provide services associated with these products and their use. The company provides products for transporting data, voice within buildings, across campuses and globally. The products are utilized at enterprise businesses, public institutions, telecommunications companies and other service providers, commercial businesses, and personal residences. Cisco conducts its business globally and manages its business geographically. Its business is divided into the following three geographic segments: The Americans; Europe, M...
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Works Cited for: Caplan, Hayley. How to Avoid Cell Phone Identity Theft? What Is Privacy? N.p., 31 July 2012. Web.
In this book Sterling discusses three cyberspace subcultures known as the hacker underworld, the realm of the cyber cops, and the idealistic culture for the cyber civil libertarians. At the beginning of the story Sterling starts out with discussing the birth of cyberspace and how it came about. The Hacker Crackdown informs the readers of the issues surrounding computer crime and the people on all sides of those problems. Sterling gives a brief summary of what cyberspace meant back then and how it impacted society, and he investigates the past, present and future of computer crimes. For instance he explains how the invention of the telephone led to a world that people were scared of because the telephone was something that was able to let people talk to one another without actually being in the same area. People thought that it was so strange and so different because they didn’t understand all of the information behind it. Back then people thought of the telephone as a tool that allowed others to talk to them in a way that was so personal yet impersonal. Sterling then goes on to explain how “phone phreaks” played such an important part in relating the telephones to computer crimes and how they were so closely related back then.
Background One. Tel was launched by Jodee Rich and Brad Keeling in 1995 (Cook, 2001). At first, it looked to get the advantages from deregulation of the telecommunication industry by reselling other network’s capacity and making money through stock market speculation. Rich and Keeling tried to increase the company’s shares rather than profit the company (Cook, 2001). Initially, One.
Telecommunications gained mainstream attention in the early 90’s; however the initial key market was business men and women, who used their phones whilst being on the move and so allowing them to communicate with their companies with ease. Though in the modern era, telecommunication went through segmentation in the market trends, and now in this day and age it would be difficult to find someone who does not own some form of mobile technology. Many phone providers battle to provide the best service for their customers (Figure 1).
Roberts, Richard M. "Network Secrurity." Networking Fundamentals. 2nd ed. Tinley Park, IL: Goodheart-Willcox, 2005. 599-639. Print.
The computer is considered one of the most important technological advances of the twentieth century. Security and privacy issues have been in existence long before the computer became a vital component of organizations' operations. Nevertheless, the operating features of a computer make it a double-edged sword. Computer technologies with reliable error detection and recording capabilities, permit the invasion of a supposedly secure environment to occur on a grand scale and go undetected. Furthermore, computer and communications technology permit the invasion of a persons' privacy and likewise go undetected. Two forces threaten privacy: one, the growth of information technology with its enhanced capacity for surveillance, communication, computation, storage and retrieval and two, the more insidious threat, the increased value of information in decision making. Information has become more vital in the competitive environment, thus, decision makers covet it even if it viol!
The Other Side of Mobile Threats? Retrieved from Trend Micro: http://blog.trendmicro.com/trendlabs-security-intelligence/exploiting-vulnerabilities-the-other-side-of-mobile-threats/. Wright, J. a. The adage of the adage of the adage of the adage of the adage of the adage of the a Five Wireless Threats You May Not Know! Retrieved from SANS: http://www.sans.edu/research/security-laboratory/article/wireless-security-1.
Privacy threats are currently the biggest threat to National Security today. The threats are not only concerning to the government, however. An alarming 92% of Americans are concerned that the power grid may be vulnerable to a cyber-attack (Denholm). Although this is a more recent development to the cyber threats we have experienced, this is not the first time that privacy threats have stepped into the limelight as people are forced to watch their every online move.
These are the most common types of Cyber Crimes people see on a daily basis. Although the internet is a great source for making money in legal ways, it is also used for plenty of malicious black market money scams. It is imperative to always carefully browse the internet, when downloading programs, and talking to people online. Works Cited "Cyberstalking" Marshall University. Marshall University, n.d. -.
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Internet Voice, also known as Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP), is a technology that allows you to make regular telephone calls using a dial up or broadband internet connection instead of a regular phone line. Some services using VoIP may only allow you to call other people using the same service, bu...