Running a small or mid-sized business requires strong protection of data while maintaining the quality of your service. But thankfully, VoIP has made calling not only easier and affordable but also secure and reliable.
But VoIP systems can be hacked, just like any other internet-based technology, especially if your business doesn’t have the right security steps in place. Eavesdropping, toll fraud, and denial-of-service (DoS) attacks are just a few of the cyber risks that can stop you from doing business and put private data at risk.
Hackers often target the system in order to steal information, intercept calls, or even rack up fraudulent charges. This is why implementing strong security practices is more than just important. Let’s look at some common and best practices for SMBs to keep VoIP communications safe.
Why VoIP Security Matters for Your Business
VoIP has quickly become the communication backbone for many small and mid-sized businesses. Compared to traditional phone lines, VoIP systems are affordable, flexible, and cut costs significantly. But with those advantages comes a serious responsibility, and it is to keep your system secure.
VoIP uses the internet to send calls, which makes it a tempting target for hackers. Cybercriminals can listen in on talks, steal customer information, or charge more for tolls by taking advantage of weak security. It has effects that go far beyond losing money. An attack can stop your business from doing its normal work, hurt your clients’ trust, and even get you in legal trouble.
Strong VoIP security isn’t just a technical measure to keep you safe. In fact, it’s also a way to protect your reputation as well as make sure that you can talk to people without any problems. When you take security seriously, you don’t just stop attacks, but you also build trust that your workers, partners, and customers can rely on.
6 Best Practices for VoIP Security
Bring up the following VoIP security strategies with your vendor and set up the right safety nets or guards around your business.
1. Keep your VoIP system up to date
Software updates are essential maintenance for your digital front door. Just as you wouldn’t leave a physical lock broken, letting your VoIP system fall behind on updates is an open invitation for trouble. Developers constantly release patches to fix security flaws they’ve discovered; failing to install them is like knowing about a weakness but refusing to fix it.
This is a new responsibility that didn’t exist with old analog phones. Those systems were static. Your VoIP, however, is a dynamic piece of software connected to the internet, making it a living system that needs care.
Make these updates a non-negotiable part of your routine. Your IT team can handle this automatically, or you can schedule a simple quarterly check-in to ensure everything is running the latest, most secure versions. This small habit is one of the simplest and most powerful ways to protect your business.
2. Ensure security for remote locations
When your team operates across several cities or countries, your phone system’s security must cover that entire map. A breach at one remote location can potentially affect the whole network. In order to manage this big risk, you may consider implementing two of the following:
- Work with your provider to establish geographical restrictions for your account. This allows the system to only accept calls that are originated from countries and regions where your business actually operates. The system automatically flags or blocks any login attempt from outside the predefined areas and provides a strong defense against international fraud attempts.
- A more robust solution requires employees to connect through a company-approved Virtual Private Network (VPN), particularly when working remotely. A VPN makes a safe and encrypted tunnel for all of your data, including voice calls. This keeps other people from listening to your talks when you’re on public or less reliable networks. This is especially important when you want to make sure that the link between branches and remote workers is safe and that everyone is on a private channel.
3. Use Strong Passwords
Research speaks out loud that weak passwords are a primary cause of security breaches. A weak password makes strong credential policies absolutely critical for protecting your VoIP system.
Besides keeping your password limited to yourself, you should consider enforcing strict rules that require passwords to be a minimum of 12 characters long. Additionally, they should include a mix of uppercase and lowercase letters, numbers, and symbols.
If you suspect any account has been compromised, contact your provider immediately to have all credentials reset. This simple layer of defense prevents the vast majority of unauthorized access attempts.
4. Protect against identity theft
You must protect your VoIP system not only because millions of Americans are impacted by fraud and identity theft, but also because it’s critical for your business on every level. With just a few configurations, you can greatly reduce the risk of identity theft.
Ask your provider to implement access control lists that verify a user’s identity by cross-referencing their IP address with a secure database and block unauthorized entry. Moreover, you can establish predefined call routes and make sure that outbound traffic only uses your approved pathways and prevent toll fraud.
You must also be cautious with features, like call forwarding, because criminals often exploit them. Limit this function on extensions, configuring settings with your vendor’s help to maintain usability without compromising security.
5. Secure your VoIP calls with encryption
Eavesdropping is one of the biggest threats to any internet-based call. This is because it allows hackers to listen to talks and steal private audio data. This could include anything from secret business plans and login information to financial data.
Hackers often use call tampering, in which they send a lot of junk data over a link. This is done on purpose to lower the quality of calls, which can lead to annoying delays and dropouts that can stop business in its tracks.
The most effective defense against both is encryption. Reputable providers use protocols like Transport Layer Security (TLS) to shield the signaling data that sets up a call. For the conversation itself, the Secure Real-time Transport Protocol (SRTP) scrambles the audio, making it virtually impossible for anyone to decipher if intercepted. Ensuring these are active is a fundamental step in securing your communications.
6. Monitor call activity regularly
A major threat called “vishing,” which is similar to phishing, uses phone calls instead of emails to deceive employees. In this, scammers pose as trusted colleagues, clients, or institutions and aim to trick the actual staff into handing over passwords, financial details, or other sensitive data.
To prevent such a threat, one of the best defenses is vigilance. Besides monitoring call activity regularly, verify the caller’s identity by reaching out through an official number before sharing any information. If you look over these records often, you might notice strange things happening, like calls made at strange times, to places you don’t know, or that last for a long time. This makes it easier to spot fraud early, before it becomes an expensive breach, if you do it regularly.
Conclusion
Besides the above-suggested practices, you must also ensure that you stay proactive in handling malware, set credit limits to avoid phreaking, use firewalls to prevent intrusion, and have a crisis management plan. This is because a study by IFA says that 38% of small businesses don’t have clear rules in place to deal with cybersecurity risks. It’s important to have a disaster management plan for VoIP security in addition to following best practices and taking precautions.
Securing your VoIP system isn’t about implementing one-time fixes. At RingFree, we believe that powerful communication should never come at the expense of your security. That’s why we provide you with a system that’s built with the above-said practices and more as a foundation, providing you with a clear, reliable, and secure phone service so you can focus on what you do best.
