VoIP predicted to endure growth in attacks

Threats against VoIP technology may be increasing as the technology grows in prominence, however an analyst has predicted that IP telephony will survive without exposing businesses to serious exploits.

Hackers can use previously established techniques from breaking into data networks to also compromise VoIP connections.

And there are also VoIP-specific threats such as voice spam and poor connection encryption that are being countered by experts.

"Still, there have been few exploits so far and none that have been widespread or crippling to businesses," said Tim Greene of Network World.

He cited the opinion of Gartner analyst Lawrence Orans, who said: "We are not hearing about attacks. We don't think they are happening."

Mr Greene suggested that reasons for the lack of major exploits is the use of various types of protocols to locate and communicate with other devices, as well as the current lack of a real return for hackers.

However, he called on firms to remain vigilant against future threats which may develop as VoIP increases in popularity.