Don’t leave your business vulnerable to hackers. Many types of office technology can fall prey to cyber attacks, and VoIP phone lines are no exception. It’s essential that you secure your VoIP phone system to protect your office from data breaches and other costly threats. Here’s how to improve your office security and secure your VoIP phones.
Why Is VoIP Security Important?
VoIP phones offer many benefits, like their affordability and flexibility. But just like any other piece of electronic office equipment, they are vulnerable to costly cyber attacks.
Data breaches alone can cost your business millions, not to mention the expensive lawsuits and legal fees. Compromised VoIP calls and other cyber attacks can also smear your reputation and may cause you to lose loyal customers or valuable employees. All of these consequences can make it difficult for a small business to bounce back.
Securing your VoIP phone system helps prevent data breaches, caller ID spoofing, intercepted calls, and other risks. However, cybercriminals can attack your business in a variety of other ways. It’s also a good idea to secure your printers and copiers and to implement zero trust security to protect your business.
Four Ways to Secure Your VoIP Phone System
1: Create a Strong Password Policy
For stronger internal security, your employees should always use a password when operating VoIP phones. However, hackers might attempt to guess phone passwords in order to access sensitive data. It’s important to create a strong password policy for the office and to review it periodically with your employees.
For example, an effective policy may state that:
- Passwords must be changed every two weeks
- Employees should never share their login credentials with anyone else
- Passwords cannot contain personal information like pet names or birthdays
- Every password should contain numbers, lower and upper case letters, and special characters
2: Use Encryption
When you make a VoIP call, the sound of your voice is turned into a data packet that gets sent over the internet to the other phone. Encryption scrambles this data while it is being transmitted—that way, if the call is intercepted, the data can’t be deciphered and the hacker can’t listen in.
Many VoIP providers automatically encrypt VoIP calls to begin with, but you can also encrypt your wireless network router and use a VPN for extra security. A VPN (virtual private network) is a closed network that encrypts your data.
3: Install a Firewall
If cybercriminals breach your network, all of the equipment on your network becomes vulnerable. That means the hackers can access a lot more than just your VoIP phone passwords and voicemail messages. Make sure to install a firewall on your router to block any suspicious traffic that tries to enter your network. Some routers have a built-in firewall feature that you can enable.
4: Monitor Phone Usage
Your VoIP system is most vulnerable at night, over the weekends, and on holidays when no one is at the office. It’s important that you monitor your VoIP phone usage during off-hours to catch any unusual activity. At WiZiX Technology Group, we offer call activity and performance monitoring as one of the many security features included in our Ultimate VoIP Phone Plan.
Secure VoIP Phone Systems in Northern California
Choosing a reliable VoIP provider is the first step to securing your phone system. WiZiX Technology Group offers secure VoIP phone systems and affordable plans for businesses of all sizes. Call us at 866-846-1411 today to discuss the best phone plan options for your office needs.
Images used under creative commons license – commercial use (12/14/2022). Photo by Franck on Unsplash