Businesses 'must up VoIP security'

A significant proportion of firms are not doing enough to reinforce security for their voice over internet protocol (VoIP) systems, it has been claimed.

According to a new report from In-Stat, less than half of US businesses have measures in place to make their VoIP facilities more secure.

This is despite more than 80 per cent of companies deploying some form of VoIP service within their organisations.

In-Stat warned that having a more secure VoIP infrastructure is an issue that is set to increase in importance in the future as more firms look beyond local area networks when making use of IP telephony.

"No mechanisms for securing VoIP had more than 50 per cent penetration across all sizes of business," commented Victoria Fodale, an analyst for In-Stat.

"Proactive measures, including periodic security audits and pre-deployment assessments, had low percentages of penetration too, even among the larger organisations."

A survey conducted by In-Stat last month found that 54 per cent of American firms that have installed IP communications have found that this has changed the way their business operates.