VOIP is touted as being the cheaper alternative to phone service for long distance calls. For people who already have a broadband connection and use long distance often, it's certainly a cheaper method and is easy to use most of the time. Home computer users are increasingly using it to phone people both overseas and across the country to save on the considerable long distance charges they face.

Businesses tend to save even more by using VOIP for their daily long distance calls. Business use is growing as a way to save on business expenses and allow easier conversations with customers and clients. However, there are security concerns that make using voice over IP a dangerous way to send out any information that you want kept confidential.

Because VIOP uses the normal IP traffic method that sending an email uses, there is little protection against anyone wanting to intercept that information. For a business that intends to use VOIP regularly for potentially sensitive information, steps should be taken to make the transmission safer. There are several ways to encrypt conversations sent over VOIP, making it tougher to be accessed by third parties. The VOIP transmission can also be segmented so that it's being sent out apart from the stream of other network traffic. By implementing either of these protections, VOIP can be made safer for businesses to use it as a daily part of doing business.

An SIP phone that transmits data over an IP is a particularly unsafe way to send information. SIP transmissions leave data exposed in most cases, just as unsecured data transmissions being sent online are exposed. Often an attack made over the internet is simply untraceable, making the problem much more complicated to guard against. The technology behind SIP phone transmissions can also cause other complications when trying to place a call.

Though most computers use some type of firewall, SIP phones require making two connections that are related to one task. These two connections can often confuse firewalls, which aren't aware that the tasks are related. Unless the call recipient is using the same network, this can make a firewall reject the call and disrupt the course of business.

Because VOIP technology is relatively new, there are not yet the kind of standards that could one day make it a more secure way to talk. Different phones, service providers, and hardware can make a big difference in how well the technology works and how secure it is. As of now, if steps aren't taken to make transmissions safer before they are sent, the level of security is low. If you're talking to an employee about sick leave, that might not be of paramount concern. However, if the conversation will be about your company's strategic initiatives or how payment will be sent for a large shipment, the picture is much different. Using as-is VOIP technology for many business concerns is simply not a secure way to send sensitive information without adding a few layers of security.

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Paul Walsh, owns and manages Protocol Solutions. His primary focus is on network security for business. http://www.protocolsolutions.co.uk/ Paul Walsh's blog is at: http://www.protocolsolutions.co.uk/wordpress