8 September 2005
Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) technology might end up not being as useful as previously thought, a report has warned.
According to consultants In-Stat, the security consequences of using VoIP phones, which allow users to make home telephone calls using their broadband internet connection, could outweigh the utility of such a connection.
In order to use VoIP, In-Stat says, users might have to lower their PCs' firewall defences, opening up their computers to potential viruses.
Already, over 75 per cent of companies implementing VoIP plan to replace their security appliances within the next year.
Victoria Fodale, In-Stat analyst, said: "Traditional firewall technologies can complicate several aspects of VoIP, most notably dynamic port trafficking and network address translation transversal.
"Security product vendors are adding functions that address voice applications in their products, but, as history has shown, security typically lags behind advances in technology."
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