Information technology has seen a major development in this decade that has created more innovative products to make communication faster and cheaper than we expect. Internet telephony or the (VOIP) voice over internet protocol is one of the major development that has made voice transmission more clear, fast and cheaper. Broadband service and fiber optics have facilitated the growth of VOIP technology and is expected to be used in a wider spectrum. There are a few threats or cautions like spamming, spoofing and identity threats that have been alarmed since the emergence of this technology.
1. (SPIT) Spam over internet telephony is a mix of telemarketing and spam. Calls are free or cost much lesser not just for customers but also for marketing companies. A large volume of VOIP calls and messages can pile up in your inbox which will be sent using automated programs. Also they will occupy large mega bytes of storage which can reduce the traffic of genuine and wanted messages.
2. Spoofing is a method of creating a mask or fake identity using the internet telephone. Since internet telephone use a MAC (Media access control) address for identification, spoofing of the MAC also possible. This can help hackers and attackers to make the customers believe that the call is from a known or trusted source. These calls can make the customers disclose personal information like account numbers, (SSN) Social security number and other authentic information.
3. There are chances that the VOIP data can take an unencrypted route in the internet. This gives hackers and crime software developers, a chance to re-frame the original conversation and get bits and pieces of identity information about a customer.
Any data is vulnerable to attackers on the internet. Technology before adoption needs an in-depth study which can help protect us from possible known threats. Even though there are many benefits out of the VOIP access, customers have to take efforts to learn from a VOIP guide and also update related info that can help them avoid vulnerabilities.
