Enhance Security with Unified Communications Monitoring
Unified communications monitoring is a great way to enhance the security of your business dealings. It helps the business to remain competitive because of the enhanced security of the data it handles. Enhanced security is a key factor that leads to customer confidence. If the customers are not confident about data protection, they will not lend their data to you. This is where unified communications monitoring helps you as it easily migrates your communications to the cloud and ensures greater data security at all times.
Unified Communications Monitoring Security Features
As most business communications are increasingly moving online, companies have to host vast quantities of data in their centres. Data is one of the most powerful resources in today’s times as it serves to make a company competitive in the market. As a result, data breaches can put companies in a huge trouble which might entail precarious legal situations as well as lowering trust levels among the public and customers. Hence, irrespective of whether your company hosts its own UCaaS solution or uses the services of an external provider, ensuring data security is critical.
Here are some security features to include in your unified communication solutions for enhanced security:
Protected data centres
As mentioned above, any cloud-based digital services require data centres that run effectively and securely. The data centres must ensure the highest security through a variety of techniques. For instance, physical data centres need robust physical protections to provide increased security and service reliability. Hardened data centres with surplus power will ensure runtime even in case of a catastrophe. Likewise, installing multiple data centres at various geographic locations also ensures smooth service in the event of damage to a nearby centre.
The security fields such as data security are more complex to use with a VoIP or UCaaS platform. It is advisable to balance physical security with enhanced cyber security and regulatory compliance to improve the safety of your UCaaS. Furthermore, regular security audits, digital tracking, and 24-hour monitoring help to keep a track of events and maintain higher security standards. Collect the relevant security certificates and follow all privacy regulations to achieve PCI compliance. That way, you’ll secure your data centre and ensure that your service is reliable and consistent, resulting in increased customer trust.
Secure voice
Call interception can be destructive for your company as those intercepting the phone calls can access your data. Data breach in IT can be costly – often runs into millions of dollars. It is costlier in the healthcare sector as a breach can cost you upwards of seven million dollars. Accessing data from corporate communication channels is a lucrative business for some. Hackers with some skill can attack VoIP on public networks and so, organisations should secure their voice communication channels. You should ensure no one can eavesdrop or access call data while using a VoIP service.
As VoIP uses the internet to transmit calls as data packets via a network, your employees and customers can use it to share confidential information over the phone. You can enhance the security of VoIP by incorporating SRTP (secure real-time transport protocols) into your VoIP channels. This will encrypt all voice calls, thereby lowering the likelihood of a data breach over a VoIP channel by a hacker. End-to-end encryption ensures that only the users in a particular chat, voice channel, or video call can access the messages or calls they share online. Encryption also facilitates your company’s efforts with privacy compliance.
Fraud detection and prevention
As the popularity and usage of the internet grew, so did fraud. Businesses and individuals the world over suffer losses amounting to trillions each year due to fraud. A responsible business should protect itself and its customers from possible fraudulent behaviours resulting in financial and legal risks. Any UCaaS platform that doesn’t have built-in protection against fraud is not worth it. You should opt for a unified communications system that comes with pre-installed fraud protection tools. Built-in features such as geolocation and address verification services are highly recommended. Likewise, blacklisting features allow you to track and record users who abuse the communications service.
Your UC service provider should also limit opportunities for credential theft. A way to do this is by incorporating biometrics or device fingerprints for security.
Account management
You must be able to offer and withdraw access to its UCaaS solution. This is a great way to provide access to crucial data on a need-to-know basis. Restricting access to company data is an excellent way to lower internal security threats. Account management is a highly useful feature for enhanced security.
Network security
Nowadays, it is common for employees to use a wide range of devices to finish their tasks. They could be working on a laptop, desktop, tablet, or mobile phone to get things done. The more devices, the greater the vulnerability to cyber-attacks. Hence, the UC service provider must ensure data protection across different channels and devices. Session border controllers (SBCs) should be used to regulate communication flow so that the service packets’ network topology is hidden. A secure network offers layers of protection against fraud, and service theft, and incorporates encryption to any communication.
User access controls
UCaaS providers must ensure the correct users are accessing the proper accounts at any given time. However, password fatigue is rising, which prompted companies to adopt single sign-on (SSO) authentication. Although SSO is effective in establishing the identity of a user, it has its own complications. A way to address this is to adopt two-factor or multi-factor authentication. Furthermore, mobile optimization should be incorporated as users might use different devices to access the services online.
As you can see, there are several ways to enhance the security of unified communications through constant monitoring and adapting. Any business that fails to consider the probable pitfalls and steps to address them immediately will find itself in a weak position. Enhancing the security features of your unified communications system is a sure-shot way to stay ahead in the game.