Evaluation of users’ perspective on VOIP’s security vulnerabilities

Abstract

Voice over Internet protocol (VoIP) represents a major newish trend in telecommunications and an alternative to traditional phone systems. VoIP uses IP networks and therefore inherits their vulnerabilities. Adding voice traffic to IP networks complicates security issues and introduces a range of vulnerabilities. A VoIP system may face either an exclusive attack or an attack to the underlying IP network. The significance of security and privacy in VoIP communications are well known, and many studies mostly from the technical perspective have been published. However to date, no known research has been conducted to evaluate users’ perspectives on these issues. In light of this scarcity, we carried out a survey to evaluate users’ awareness of VoIP security vulnerabilities, and their attitudes towards privacy in VoIP communications. An overall finding highlights the fact that the majority of participants are neither concerned about VoIP privacy (eavesdropping) or VoIP security.