Posts belonging to Category IP Telephony



Mobile VPN Overview

The growing use of wifi-enabled smart phones, PDAs and laptops enables mobiles individuals to connect to corporate networks when on the move or out of office , making connections wherever necessary using mobile virtual private networks (Mobile VPN)in an efficient and comfortable fashion.  Organizations can also cut back on communications costs in the fixed phone and monthly operating costs for corporate PBX or GSM. VPN Mobile is offering flexibility in that Mobile VPN can operate on private and public network infrastructures, including dial-up connections to home broadband, Ethernet LAN, WLAN, WWAN, satellite data networks, and even non-IP radio networks.

Mobile VPN Configuration

Mobile VPNs are utilised in environments where employees need to keep application sessions open at all times, as they connect through various wireless networks, ran into gaps in coverage, or suspend-and-resume their devices to conserve battery life. A conventional VPN can’t pull through such issues since when the VPN connection  is interrupted,  it may cause applications to fail, or even the device to crash. Mobile VPNs are commonly used in energy companies, field service management, utility companies and other industries. Workers who connect via WWAN uses a method of secure remote access: SSL-protected Web portal, email connections encrypted using TLS and / or virtual private network (VPN). Users don’t need to continually restart and reauthenticate the connection or any intranet applications running on it. This helps boost their efficiency and productivity while protecting the security of corporate mobile traffic.

Mobile VPN enables mobile workers to use various wireless and wired connections to securely access their corporate intranet. It is applicable for:

  • Network-based secure mobility: All IP devices connected to the mobilized network have transparent, secure mobility.
  • Host-based secure mobility: A single device, such as a laptop or a tablet PC, is secured and mobile.

Like traditional VPNs, Mobile VPNs use authenticated and encrypted tunnel to protect corporate data transmitted over untrusted networks.When devices roam between one location to another they are assigned virtual IP address that remains constant with the change of physical IP address.

Among companies providing mobile VPN client are Cisco, Agito Mobile VPN, AppGate, BIRDSTEP, Columbitech, DiVitas, IBM, Identiprise, Microsoft, Mobile Aware etc. Those different mobile VPN clients are varied wildy in their specifications and use. Some only run on a single operating system (for example, Windows notebook or handheld Windows Mobile), while others support different mobile operating systems. Some focus on the connection management policy-based, others on the persistence of applications and some on both. Some are addressed to enable the Unified Communications (UC), while others are wireless data-centric.

Sources : Wikipedia, Cisco

Incoming search terms for the article:

Basic Security Measures To Protect Your Voip Infrastructure

Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) is growing more ubiquitous and consequently, more networks are increasingly being connected to public networks, allowing organizations as well as organisations to reduce their conventional calls therefore bring down costs and greatly improve efficiency. Various expert project different expansion rates for the VoIP market yet all of them concur that VoIP implementations are thriving rapidly and are anticipated to increase further.

Presently there are reported more security bugs linked to VoIP this year alone than in whole years before 2004 combined. VoIP are liable to security attacks particularly those linked to denial-of-service (DoS) attacks and hacked VOIP gateways will lead to illegitimate free calls or call eavesdropping. Security measures are of paramount importance when creating VoIP system mainly because each component in the infrastructure is accessible on the network just like any computer and can be hacked or exploited as a launch pad for broader, inter-network or within the network attacks. A gateway that has been broken into could be exploited to make unauthorized free phone calls


VoIP System and securitybasic  solutions

VoIP Security experts encourage varied protocols since they have a number of advantages, yet when it comes to VOIP system, there are several circumstances which are common to most VoIP protocols. Utilising the most effective security system will eliminate further risk issues and attacks.

Each VoIP infrastructure system is accessible over the data network like any other computer. Each VoIP element consists a processor running software along with a TCP/IP stack that can be attacked. Intrusions on data communications usually takes place by means of IP voice infrastructure and vice versa. DoS attacks targeting weak VoIP elements can overwhelm the network with bogus voice traffic, taking down network performance or knock down both voice and data communications. Susceptible voice communications could be bugged and compromised or corrupted, PC-based soft phones, telephones that use software to convert a desktop PC into an IP-based phone, are susceptible to eavesdropping if the PC is infected with a Trojan that snoops into a Local Area Network.

Here are highly recommended VoIP Security measures to eliminate those above-mentioned threats:

1. Switch off unnecessary protocols that can be exploited by hackers or inside-the-organization intruders
2. Thoroughly pick the Voice over internet protocol equipment that best meet your requirement.
3. Update the software operating the VOIP system on a regular basis.
4. Use Network Address Translation (NAT) that acts to turn internal static IP addresses into a single IP address.
5. Separate VoIP and other IP-based using logical as well as physical separators
6. Allow only authorized personell to conduct VOIP supervision and upgrade

Incoming search terms for the article:

Page 1 of 212