Product takes aim at multi-billion-dollar toll fraud

Virsae, the cloud-native service management platform for unified communications (UC), has launched a UC security management solution aimed squarely at putting a dent in the billions of dollars lost to toll fraud.

Called Security Manager, the new module brings real-time threat awareness capabilities to protect UC networks, allowing network managers to pinpoint vulnerabilities and shore up defences.

Toll fraud costs companies $38 billion, according to the Communications Fraud Control Association – and most of the blame sits with widespread adoption of VoIP, which traditional IT network security isn’t designed to protect. Supporting this view, research from cyber security specialist Nettitude, shows VoIP servers accounted for 67% of all attacks recorded against networks in the UK.

Ross Williams, Virsae’s COO, said hackers are cashing in on poorly-protected UC networks.

“Toll fraud is just the start – though at nearly twice the size of plastic card fraud, it’s a huge problem. But it’s just one of many threats facing UC environments,” he said, also highlighting increasingly common denial of service attacks.

“It’s all about money. Hackers have got you over a barrel when they can crash your UC platform with an endless flood of session requests, or clog SIP channels through repeated calling,” said Williams.

Unlike traditional software applications running on IT networks, which benefit from routinely updated security systems, such as firewalls and AV software, UC relied on Session Border Controllers (SBCs) – specialist technology often unfamiliar to IT managers.

Consequently, the job of managing SBCs and attendant updates, reporting and management, is at risk of being neglected, said Williams.

“Organisations routinely update anti-virus and anti-malware solutions, harden infrastructure, and update policies. UC security should be managed in the same way,” he said.

Virsae Security Manager’s real-time threat awareness was designed to help network managers turn the tables on attackers, putting a window to attacks weathered by SBCs and, in the process, pinpointing network vulnerabilities to steer critical changes.

“In the same way house alarms and CCTV intruder detection systems activate alarms to instantly alert homeowners, Security Manager watches and flags suspicious activity, keeping UC managers in the picture and one step ahead of the bad guys,” said Williams.

Virsae’s multi-vendor UC service management platform, VSM, manages more than 50 UC, customer experience and network infrastructure vendors, including Cisco, Microsoft, Avaya, Mitel, AudioCodes, Sonus, NICE, Verint and Juniper.

Armed with VSM’s multi-vendor capabilities, customers and partners can get to the root cause of UC, contact center, infrastructure, and now security issues, using a single interface that simplifies management and reduces costs while aligning UC and network teams. Each month the VSM platform processes more than nine billion service management transactions created by hundreds of thousands of end-users world-wide.

About Virsae www.virsae.com

Businesses around the world use Virsae’s cloud-based business communications management platform, Virsae Service Management (VSM), to keep their communications technology running smoothly – so their channels stay open, workers keep communicating, and customers always get an answer. Virsae is ranked Number 308 on the Deloitte Technology Fast 500™ Asia Pacific 2016, and scooped industry awards, including Emerging Exporter of the Year award at the 2016 Air New Zealand Cargo ExportNZ Awards; and ISV of the year at the 2016 Reseller News ICT Industry Awards. Virsae has offices in New Zealand, the USA and UK.

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