Secure Applications from Cloud Telephony Security Threats & Issues
Security issues and threats are some of the primary problems software faces. To use your application or software securely, you must be careful about many security problems.
Internet-based software applications are prone to security risks as the server is huge, and data breaches are common. A cloud-based app records a lot of data and information on its server that can be exposed if hacked. Therefore, you must be careful about your software’s security before trusting it with your data.
Cloud Telephony is a phone system that handles all the functions required for a complete telephony system using the internet. It has many features that provide an efficient, time-saving, and affordable internet-based communication system.
The softphone is an evolving technology, and many telephony users have started opting for this system globally. However, there is a considerable threat that comes with using this product. It may not be secure all the time.
All your data is vulnerable and can sometimes be misused, which causes security threats. Furthermore, as many individuals and businesses are transferring their telephony systems into this software, a lot of data is exposed to the cloud. Therefore, everyone is genuinely concerned about their data and information security.
What Are Some Common Cloud-based Software Security Threats?
Although most businesses have switched to cloud telephony, the major concern for almost all of them is a proper security plan for their application. You don’t want your data and sensitive information to be vulnerable.
Here are some major threats and issues regarding cloud-based software security you need to be aware of.
Data Breaches
A data breach is exposing, stealing, or hacking sensitive data and private information from an application. This is one of the major issues you must be mindful of while using a softphone.
“Is an internet-based application secure enough to record my confidential data and information rather than storing them on a hardware device?” This is a major question every user switching to cloud telephony has.
According to “Man In Cloud Attack,” a study by the Ponemon Institute, cloud-based software is three times more likely to have their data breached than those that are not.
Hijacking of accounts
Logging into your account by an unknown user is another problem you may face while using cloud telephony. Your credentials may be stolen and misused to gain and modify company information.
Attackers can hijack your accounts by injecting malicious bugs and reusing passwords, phishing, and keystroke logging. A new technique of getting access to your account is by stealing the tokens given to you using which you don’t need your login details to use the account.
Insider Threat
As unlikely as it sounds, there are people in your company intending to steal the confidential data record and use it for their benefit. They can use the access given by the company to manipulate your data and misuse it.
You need to control access to applications and information for your employees and monitor their activities regularly.
Malware and Viruses
Another common issue is that hackers can inject software with malware and viruses. They are a set of codes that are malicious and can expose your data and information.
The injected malware can make your software vulnerable, which makes the attackers easy to manipulate and misuse sensitive data from your application.
What is Cloud Security?
Cloud security is a set of policies and procedures that work together to give you a secure platform in the cloud and its applications.
It is essential for companies that use cloud telephony as they work remotely. Small companies have all their confidential data stored in their cloud and shared among the employees or the owners through the internet.
The employees handle their company’s data and personal data together, allowing the hackers to breach data easily. Hence, educating yourself and your employees about the importance of cloud security and how to save yourself from being a victim of these security threats is crucial.
How Secure is Cloud Telephony?
Cloud telephony provides many features that make communication systems for your company much easier. However, as every technology has some disadvantages, the data in the cloud can be threatened and sometimes accessed without permission.
Most of the security is interrupted by humans more than by the system. Sometimes, the data recorded from the previous owner can be used by the new owner of the system as the system may not altogether remove it.
Some can steal login credentials which may be a significant risk to your data on the server. The other reasons your data might be at risk are the deletion of data accidentally, a weak Wi-Fi connection, and so on.
Why is Cloud Security Important?
You don’t want personal information from your company to be exposed. As you work remotely, all the data, communication, and records are kept in the cloud. These records may have some delicate and personal information as well. All these data need to be protected, and cloud security is essential for cloud telephony.
Another important reason you need cloud security is to gain your customer’s trust. Your customers need to know that the data they’ve provided to your company is safe. The company will go into a loss of millions if your data is breached. So it would be best if you were concerned about the security of the data fed into the software, which helps you deal with that problem.
Ways to Secure yourself from Cloud Telephony Security Threats & Issues
Safeguarding yourself from cloud telephony security threats and issues is crucial, as a small vulnerability can put you at a big risk. So most businesses and individuals are paying quite a lot of attention to security while subscribing to cloud telephony services.
Telephony service providers are also equally alert in this regard. As a result, it’s one of the most prevalent telecommunication industry trends today.
Although service providers are doing their bit, you must be cautious about different areas of your telephony and keep yourself secure.
Now that you know about the threats and issues and how important it is to have a secure work environment in cloud telephony let’s discuss some ways.
Use Multi-factor Authentication (MFA)
The old way of securing your account using your username and password is not enough to make it completely safe. The primary way of issues with security has been by stealing login credentials. Unfortunately, the technology has moved far ahead; attackers can quickly hack the username and password.
You don’t want another person to log into your account using your credentials and run your company remotely because that is possible if they have your credentials. It would help if you used a multi-factor authentication system to protect your account. It is trustworthy, effective, and cheap to secure your data.
Using Unallocated Phone Numbers
The communication system has interwoven us so tightly that it’s impossible to connect with other people without leaving a footprint. And that’s more so while using a telephony system for communication.
So time and again, you can use unallocated phone numbers while connecting with people or businesses you may want to safeguard yourself from. Using such numbers, you can mask your number and hide your identity, keeping yourself safe from spammy and scam calls and SMS.
Manage Your User Access
You don’t need to give access to all the information and applications to all of your employees. They only need the features that are required to complete their tasks.
Authorizing only the necessary features and applications to different employees can reduce the chance of exposing your sensitive data to everyone. This will help reduce the chance of data vulnerability.
An IT consultant can manage user accessibility if you are unfamiliar with the procedure. A Managed Service Providers (MSP) team can manage all your IT services to reduce the burden of managing your user access and other features.
Screen New Hires
You need to do a background check before hiring your employees. All of them may not be trustworthy and may be from skeptical backgrounds. Therefore, even after hiring them, you need to monitor them continuously.
Initially, you don’t need to access all the data and features that will make the company’s information vulnerable. For example, if you feel any suspicious activities from your employees, you need to reject all their access to applications and information.
Investigate irregular activities in the system
There are many irregular activities found in the system that may either be external or internal. The internal activities are not that difficult to investigate. The internal activities include a person trying to get into the informational and personal data of the company.
You can investigate them by monitoring their activities within the system. You may check their records saved in the telephony system. The softphone helps keep all the logs of each employee and their work in the system. This will make it easy to track suspicious and irregular activities in the system.
The Last Resort
With the evolution of cloud telephony technology and its massive use by companies and businesses, security concerns must be addressed for the company’s well-being. Security threats are crucial ones and need to be handled carefully.
There are rules and protocols created for safe and secure product use that must be followed strictly. However, more than the system, the threat is from humans trying to hack into the accounts and steal data.
The standard and easy way to breach data are by stealing the login credentials and gaining access to your account. However, some factors can secure the data and information recorded in the system from getting stolen or breached.
It would be best if you were careful about any suspicious activity in the accounts of admins and members. Monitoring your employees is equally important and having multi-factor authentication while logging into your account is essential.
You can get all the benefits of efficient, time-saving, and helpful technology while being careful about your cloud telephony security threats and issues.
