With every new great technology comes new levels of data security. Just as you upgraded your data security for your latest website update, for your cloud document manager, and your enterprise management software, so too will you need new data security measures when you upgrade the team to VoIP. VoIP, like any cloud system, has a few distinct points that hackers will try to attack.

Hackers will seek to crack someone’s login so they can start using your service and burning up your talk hours for free. They will try to hack into host devices so they can steal any personal data that is stored as a result of calls and communications. And they will try to use your need for Wi-Fi to set honeypot traps and hack connected devices.

The following five tips will help you prevent these hacks quite neatly with each workstation and device your employees use to connect their VoIP numbers.

1) Use Firewalls and Data Encryption on Every VoIP Device

Always, always, always start with firewalls and data encryption. No doubt, you already have firewalls and whole-device encryption on your business workstations, but now it’s time to expand that protection to employee mobile devices as well. Any device your team wants to use for VOIP should be reinforced at the same time that the app is installed. In emergencies, it should be okay to temporarily connect to the VOIP system via an unsecured device, but it will also be important to log out and wipe the install when the emergency is over.

2) Configure Auto-Logout at Workstations

Auto-logout ensures that no one remains logged into their VOIP number and company services after they have left the desk. For your workstations, it’s practical to assume specific times at which employees will be finished with their VOIP use and it is safe to auto-logout with the risk of bouncing a client call to email.

Start by encouraging employees to log out whenever they walk away from the desk. Beyond that, allows configuration for timed auto-logout which you can align with the end of each work shift. For employees who answer a service line, you can even disengage logins as soon as ‘business hours’ are through.

3) Screen Lock for Active VOIP Mobile Devices

Of course, employees using their mobile devices are a little more challenging to defend with auto-logout. Idle won’t work because they may be waiting for calls, and timing only works if their planned mobile work aligns with a predicted schedule.

So with mobile devices, you have two security options. Your first is screen lock. Screen lock is a professional’s best defense when they need to stay constantly logged into a secure app all the time. The second option is to invite your employees to set their own auto-logout times. This can be effective for both security and defending a healthy work-life balance.

4) Coach Employees on Building Secure Passwords and Protecting Those Passwords

Passwords are of utmost importance with VOIP, because they are the key to each universally available phone number. All the accessibility, all the versatility that VOIP offers, is exposed if their password is stolen. The last thing you want is for hackers to gain the ability to log into your VOIP network from anywhere just like an employee.

Train your employees to build strong passwords and to protect them. Not to write them down, not to email the passwords to themselves, and definitely not to load them into unsecure password management apps.

5) Provide Wifi Hotspots to Avoid Honeypot Wifi Traps

Finally, provide any employees who connect away from home or the office with a wifi hotspot. Hackers like to set up fake wifi networks pretending to be guest wifi from shops and restaurants that don’t have wifi. When people unwittingly connect to check their messages (or when phones automatically connect to the nearest network) they can be hacked through the honeypot fake network.

Securing your employees with their new VOIP numbers isn’t difficult, but a few steps are incredibly useful for keeping hackers off your network. Contact us today for more expert cybersecurity advice!