VoIP crime is a serious threat to VoIP providers. Although many thought the days of Phone Preakers died with VoIP toll fraud, identity theft, and malware specific to VoIP is out there.

Edwin Pena was recently in the news for being the first person to be caught and prosecuted for VoIP hacking.

Working with another hacker, Pena was successfully able to steal VoIP minutes from major VoIP providers, including Net2Phone, NovaTel and Go2Tel, and charge them to his own VoIP “company.” He charged lower rates because he was stealing service, not providing one.

Although it’s always good when a criminal is brought to justice, he managed to cause $1.4 million in losses from his victims. Here are some steps you can take if you are a VoIP provider to protect yourself from attacks and toll fraud.

1. Subscribe to an IP Hacker Address/Phone Number Blacklist –

If a threat is identified by one organization, it is paramount that this information be spread before more damage can be done. Many IT companies and Asterisk support providers have access to common lists of known threats. These lists are also shared with authorities like the FTC and FBI, that investigate the people behind the addresses. These lists ensure that the number of people and businesses affected by hackers remains small.

2. Use a trusted Colocation Center with high level of security –

Colocation facilities are large data centers in which several ISPs, Telcos, and cloud service providers all house their respective equipment. The equipment, in turn, may be connected physically with copper or fiber rather than through Internet protocol. One of the primary advantages of a colocation facility, or “colo,” is that the colocation facility may provide added value. One such value is physical security. Technicians and security guards will pro-actively walk through the halls and keep watch for any attempted or successful tampering.

3. Require hardware registration for softphones –

A soft-phone is a software that connects to the VoIP network. The user typically uses a headset and makes calls normally. But there is a hidden danger to this convenience. Hackers can discover how to log in remotely through devices that do not belong to subscribers. By requiring subscribers to register their device’s MAC address in order to use the softphone, providers can easily cut down on fraud.

4. Be vigilant against outright theft –

Hackers have been known to go straight to the financial arm of big companies. One CFO of a cloud service provider was in the process of transferring $180,000 when a series of pop-up ads exploded on his computer. An unauthorized transfer for the same amount was being sent to Hong Kong. He immediately snapped into action and was able to recover the entire amount.

5. Separate data and VoIP network traffic –

By having two discrete VLANs, you have a natural firewall between the two. Therefore, attempts to send malware over VoIP will be less likely to succeed.

By: Reuben Yonatan – CEO and Editor-in-Chief at GetVoIP & CloudHostingHQ

The post 5 Ways to Secure Your VoIP Server appeared first on Colocation America.

If you are providing a cloud service, such as hosted PBX, web hosting, or data storage, one of the biggest decisions to make is whether to house your equipment on your own facilities, or to have it be managed at a collocation center. Here are five reasons to consider having your equipment managed remotely.

1: Backup and Redundancy

Say you’re in the data backup business. Then you should know better than anyone that one location just won’t cut it. Having a managed facility gives you the peace of mind knowing that your customers’ important data or service is in more than one location. Backups happen frequently, and can even be continuous. More up-time for you means more up-time for your customers.

2: Security & On-Site Tech Support

Managed facilities have dedicated security teams. Combined with on-site engineers, anything that isn’t right will immediately sound an alarm. But more importantly, good security is proactive, stopping threats before they start. If you have your own on-premise security, you might have security that is good enough for an office building, but not good enough for cloud service providers.

3: Scalability

As it is for your customers, you want to be able to scale up and even down effectively. When you purchase on-premise equipment, once you hit your maximum capacity, you have to buy new equipment. Not so with managed collocation services. You can lease more servers as needed, and the move will be seamless. As your company grows, so can your capacity, without the needed for as much CAPEX.

4: Environmental Impact

Some companies keep an eye on their carbon footprint and even offset it. Having your equipment managed means having everything run at peak capacity at all times, and never waste energy keeping idling equipment cool. The larger capacity of managed hosting service providers means they know how to keep things cool.

5: Equipment Life cycle

You always want to use the newest, best equipment. But what happens when that equipment isn’t the best anymore? What happens when your product reaches the end of its useful life cycle and needs disposal? These are questions you won’t have to worry about when you go with managed collocation services. They make sure that the equipment is top notch and they squeeze every cycle out of their processors. If a component fails, it is replaced and disposed of in an environmentally responsible manner. You never have to worry about paying a professional to take out your cyber trash.

About the author: This posting was written by Reuben Yonatan , a writer and VoIP enthusiast AT getvoip

The post 5 Advantages of Managed Colocation Services appeared first on Colocation America.