Security fears are holding back the broader adoption of VoIP (voice over internet protocol) technology in the corporate market, warns VoIPSA, the new Voice over Internet Protocol Security Alliance.
The industry body was launched last week to research ways of making VoIP networks more secure. Its members include equipment vendors such as Alcatel, 3Com and Avaya, specialist software firms such as Symantec, and security consultants.
"Despite the advantages of VoIP, if the technology is not implemented properly and securely, we are likely to circumvent existing security controls and expose our networks," said Mr Brian Kelly, director of the advanced security centre at Ernst Young, a founding member of the VoIPSA.
Although VoIP has not been a major security target to date, analysts say its rapid adoption in public networks and enterprises creates particular security challenges that are not easily dealt with by conventional network security solutions.
Last month, the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), a US government body, told federal agencies and other organisations considering switching to VoIP to "proceed with caution" and carefully consider the risks.
"Administrators may mistakenly assume that since digitised voice travels in packets, they can simply plug VoIP components into their already secured networks and remain secure" says the institute.
"However, the process is not that simple."
Just as the growth of email has been accompanied by a huge rise in spam traffic on IP networks, there are concerns that the growth of VoIP will bring with it another type of spam, which has been dubbed 'spit' (spam over internet telephony).
VoIP technology makes it economically feasible to send huge numbers of unsolicited voicemails to softphones and other VoIP devices. A more serious fear of the NIST and others is that the growth of VoIP will attract the attentions of hackers and criminals, who could discover ways to listen in on VoIP conversations or reroute calls.
While enterprises harbour security concerns about VoIP, no such fears are holding back the enormous growth of the consumer market.
Skype, the European pioneer of internet telephony, has 24 million users, and last week struck its first co-branding deal with a mainstream wireline operator, Hutchison Global Communications of Hong Kong.
