VoIP, also known as internet telephony is currently revolutionizing and changing the way telecommunications are perceived, the exponential market exposure and growth we have seen in the past few years coincides with these facts. Many telecommunication researchers agree that the current telephony system will be replaced by this new technology, so plain old telephone service will most likely be a thing of the past. As a matter of fact, we have seen such a technological evolution before with the telegram, which is still used today but very rarely we hear about it. With the advent of this new technology, many questions have come to light, for example, are our VOIP calls being recorded or monitored by third parties, which directly violates our privacy?. The fact is that the probability of being wiretapped by using a VOIP line is almost the same as using a conventional phone. Some have made 'conventional phone communication' sound like they have some sort of secret security features, when in reality this is not true. This discussion started because VOIP systems transform sound waves into data packets which are then transmitted through the internet to it's destination, so just like a data network, a voice over IP network can be attacked if proper security measures aren't taken. This is especially relevant to business owners who want to establish an internal PBX (Private Business Exchange System) along with VOIP and a data network. In the scenario described above, if the VOIP network which is linked to the data and internal communications network is bridged, then all communication may be lost and important data may be compromised. A good security practice in this case would be to separate the voice and data networks and implementing firewalls accordingly. This standpoint sounds scary to most custormers, but if you are having trivial conversations and such then there is nothing to worry about. Residential clients should take security measures seriously only if they are handling sensitive information through VOIP lines such as: Social Security Numbers, credit card, checking account information, etc. In the US laws which directly preempt 'privacy policies' in exchange for national security have become effective and enforceable. Such is the case of CALEA also known as 'The Communications Assistance for Law Enforcement Act of 1994) which allows the government to conceivably gain access to 'phone conversations' regardless being landlines or IP managed communications. This doesn't directly affect a great percentage of users unless they are involved in some sort of illegal activity, of course!. But in order to assure 'privacy' to it's users, VOIP companies are developing security features which will be built into phone sets. Currently, companies such as Skype encrypts all the communication transmitted through the internet between users from start to finish. Another software technology which is yet to be implemented in phone sets is ZRTP which is an extension to real time transport protocol that works by initiating a cryptographic key agreement between the two parties engaged in a conversation. While this sounds like geeky mombo jombo, all the user needs to do to make sure a third party is not eavesdropping in their conversation is to compare a 'keyword' with the other person running the same software. These applications have yet to be fully implemented in handsets, so VOIP companies recommended to: update your Operating System, change factory passwords on your equipment, etc. The truth is that internet phone users who do not handle 'sensitive information' through these lines shouldn't worry as much as business owners.
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