Today, most companies are pursuing a strategy centred on efficiency and cost optimisation, with a stronger focus on reducing expenses. This has led many of them to turn to Voice over IP, which does make it possible to achieve that goal by lowering telephone call costs. However, the challenge they face is securing VoIP itself.

Indeed, the SIP protocol used to establish and maintain connectivity during an IP call does not currently make it possible to secure the line. It was originally designed to establish the link and facilitate communication via VoIP, without taking security issues into account.

Today, we live in a world where cybercrime is growing, and the risk of seeing one’s IT infrastructure put to the test is therefore very high. An attack on a VoIP network would have a harmful impact on the company’s operations, and businesses already struggle to protect themselves against such attacks.

We will not attempt here to outline the SIP protocol architecture or explain how it works. The reason is that there are many websites on the internet dealing with the subject in far more technical terms. This may well be one of the reasons explaining companies’ reluctance to fully embrace this environment. So far, businesses have been using this technology within a fairly limited scope.

That is why research is now under way to determine to what extent a more secure architecture for VoIP can be proposed. There are highly specialised network security companies offering solutions to protect against attacks targeting voice over IP, particularly to ensure confidentiality at call level. Just imagine for a moment that the calls you make are being recorded by a third party. Unlike traditional telephony, this is easily done on the internet.

In the meantime, until more effective solutions are proposed to secure VoIP calls, it is only growing usage that will push the stakeholders involved to find appropriate solutions.

Caroline Baud/ Editor at Le Monde Economique