While Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) is gaining popularity due to its impressive cost savings, there are certain risks associated with this new telephone technology. Businesses that are considering switching to VoIP services, or already using VoIP, should be aware of these risks and prepare to deal with them through the use of call accounting software.

Because VoIP uses packet switching, the same technology that drives the Internet, it faces the same threats, such as denial of service (DoS), hackers and spam. When an Internet server has been compromised with a virus, for example, it can be burdened with such an overwhelming amount of bogus traffic that it becomes unable to process valid requests. This constitutes a denial of service. While DoS attacks are not common occurrences on VoIP systems, their threat is considerable as one such attack could disable an entire communications network. The defense against this threat includes taking protective measures, such as installing a firewall and antivirus software. Call accounting software capable of tracking and recording all call detail records (CDRs) and capable of alerting personnel to any suspicious calls will be of great assistance in finding and eliminating improper and fraudulent use of telecom resources.

Spam has been a major problem for email users. According to one source, the majority of email messages are now spam-related worldwide. Now imagine receiving spurious calls over your voice network. A sizable number of such calls could render a VoIP telephone system unusable. In fact, VoIP systems are much more sensitive to parasitic operations than email, because of the real-time nature of telephone conversations. With email, a delay of a few minutes is usually not a big deal, but on a telephone system a delay of a few seconds will make it almost impossible to hold a meaningful dialog. So, interference with a VoIP system tends to show up much sooner.

Fraud is another problem, with hackers patching into a telephone system and using the company's telecom resources to make long distance calls, which may end up costing the enterprise thousands of dollars a month. While this possibility also exists with more traditional PBX systems, VoIP systems are more prone to this type of crime, because the techniques of Internet hacking are much more widely known.

Even so, with proper precautions, VoIP systems can work well and provide an excellent return on investment. Having a state-of-the art call accounting and telecom expense management system will bring further cost savings and provide the security measures needed for trouble-free operation.

For more information on Call Accounting and Telecom Expense Management (TEM), visit Telsoft Solutions.