Internet telephone service's appeal as a cutting-edge technology for cutting phone costs is convincing more and more people to ditch their landlines and go hi-tech with Voice over Internet Protocol.
VoIP companies like Vonage are growing rapidly, with their promise of nifty new features and lower monthly phone bills. Vonage, one of many Internet telephone service providers, says that about 1500 people sign up for its service alone per month. But some computer security experts say that, just as with wireless networking, VoIP's rapid-fire adoption will be closely followed by revelations of security vulnerabilities and electronic attacks.
"As VoIP is rolled out en masse, we're going to see an increased number of subscribers and also an increased number of attackers," says David Endler, chairman of the VoIP Security Alliance VOIPSA, a recently formed industry group studying VoIP security.
The VoIP experience could parallel the Wi-Fi example. As Wi-Fi began to gain momentum a few years ago, an increasing number of vulnerabilities came to light. For example, unencrypted wireless traffic could be captured and scanned for passwords, and wireless freeloaders took advantage of many early networks that would let anyone sign in. At first, Endler says, only the technological elite could take advantage of security holes like these. But before long the "script kiddies"--those who lack the skills to discover and exploit vulnerabilities on their own, but who use the tools and scripts created by skilled hackers--joined in. If VoIP use follows the pattern set by Wi-Fi network adoption, then there is good news. We may still be in those giddy early stages where the benefits of the new technology have not yet been tarnished by attacks.
Read this full article at PC World
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