Wiretapping dates back to the earliest forms of telegraphic communications. In the 1860s, many U.S. courts forbade eavesdropping on telegraph transmissions, a practice that was then soon extended to telephone calls. With the emergence of the internet, data surveillance became much more scalable and multifaceted; online activities can now be monitored via avenues such as advertising systems, tracker networks (e.g., Google, Facebook, Twitter, et al.) and ISPs themselves in some cases.
In response, many individuals have turned to solutions such as virtual private networks and HTTPS-secure websites to shield themselves from monitoring. For organizations, defending against potential data theft is a much more complex challenge, one requiring a careful balance between operational flexibility and effective cybersecurity. Migration to hosted VoIP solutions is a particularly good route for mitigating risk to sensitive IT assets (such as your on-prem PBX) while ensuring you have the wherewithal to support expanding operations.
Hosted VoIP and the counterintuitive security advantages of remote infrastructure
One of the oldest assertions about hosted and cloud-based services is that they are less safe than traditional on-prem equivalents. The argument makes some sense on the surface by playing to decision-makers' anxieties about losing control, but it doesn't hold up in light of the risks to onsite, self-managed hardware and software, such as:
- Maintenance, including patching: With a premises-based PBX, you are usually on the hook for all software upgrades and security patches to your phone system. It's stressful and expensive to keep up with the rapid evolution of security threats like secretive spyware exploiting fundamental Wi-Fi and CPU vulnerabilities, as well as the numerous technical remedies designed to defend you from them.
- Outdated tech: A PBX can last for many years, meaning it will eventually be behind the technological curve and at elevated risk of attack. For example, toll fraud is a growing network security issue: The New York Times once documented an architecture firm that ran up a $166,000 phone bill in a single weekend. Upgrading to recent media phone models and implementing session border controllers can provide protection, but it pressures your internal teams to continually modify key infrastructure.
- Unsecured physical access: If your PBX is hosted on-premises, it is potentially exposed to a wide array of localized threats, including natural disasters such as fires and floods, not to mention unapproved access and accidental system modifications by individuals. Forrester Researcher once found that a plurality of data breaches were caused by careless user actions.
- Limited resources for security response: When discussing hosted/cloud computing, it's common to talk about scalability, i.e the ability to leverage IT resources on demand. Scalable systems are crucial when confronting challenges such as distributed denial-of-service attacks (DDoS), which can overwhelm small networks and lead to costly downtime for key applications such as your PBX.
In contrast, hosted VoIP simplifies solution upkeep by entrusting it to an experienced service provider. A hosted VoIP implementation from Telesystem is the best possible alternative to dealing with the numerous risks of a self-hosted PBX. One of our key differentiators is our use of secure, world-class hardened data center facilities that deliver much greater protection for virtual VoIP services than the typical on-prem PBX implementation. These sites provide the "hosted" in hosted VoIP and work in tandem with included DDoS protection to secure your communications.
More specifically, Telesystem's data centers guard sensitive customer data from the interceptions that can precipitate expensive breaches. Certifications such as SOC 2 Type II Attestation and HIPAA Security Standards Compliancedemonstrate the presence of acceptable controls for keeping information safe and making it available to customers whenever they need it.
It has taken time, but hosted and cloud solutions are now receiving recognition as secure alternatives to local infrastructure in many instances. Hosted services are designed around rigorously tested security measures, which have contributed to their 51 percent lower share of escalated cybersecurity incidents than on-prem environments, according to a 2017 Alert Logic report.With hosted VoIP, you're getting much more than a voice service: You're also getting peace of mind that your communications are safe from prying eyes.
Hosted VoIP as a key piece of the network security puzzle
Whether for phone systems or CRM software, cybersecurity is a challenging endeavor in large part because there are not enough experienced professionals available to undertake essential tasks such as patch management. A report from Cybersecurity Ventures projected that there would be 3.5 million unfilled security positions in the U.S. by 2021.
Short supply leads to overworked teams that can understandably struggle with even basic solution upkeep.
Accordingly, it often makes sense to simplify your VoIP infrastructure by going the hosted route. A hosted plan from Telesystem rolls all of the fragmented costs and activities of PBX maintenance – everything from long-distance calling to patches – into an easily managed subscription backed by secure, reliable data center infrastructure.
Ready to learn more? You can get started by contacting Telesystem today or requesting a quote using our web-based form.
