Small businesses are increasingly moving from traditional telephones to Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) to save on costs. While VoIP offers many benefits, an unsecured system can leave your business vulnerable to a new kind of attack called telephony denial-of-service (TDoS). In this blog post, we will discuss what TDoS is and how you can protect your VoIP system and your business against it.

What is TDoS?

A denial-of-service attack aims to crash a system by bombarding it with an overwhelming number of requests, forcing the targeted system to shut down eventually. A TDoS attack is a subcategory of DDOs that’s leveled at VoIP systems. Alarmingly, this attack is commonly used against hospitals and 911 phone lines. Some TDoS attackers even demand a ransom to halt the attack, which is similar to how ransomware works. They take advantage of cryptocurrencies and caller-ID spoofing to make it difficult to identify attackers.

TDoS attacks generally utilize fewer resources than the DoS attacks that are designed to cripple IT systems, which include networks, servers, and software. At its most basic, a TDoS attack requires only an automated phone dialer that repeatedly calls a target phone number and hangs up. That very simple strategy can stop anyone else from getting through the line.

What organizations need to do

When defending against such a threat, your first instinct may be to lock down your VoIP system with complicated security measures. However, doing so can do more harm than good, as most businesses are unable to efficiently operate if they can’t communicate with their customers, business partners, and other third parties.

Although VoIP may be a digital resource similar to other components within your IT systems, the very nature of VoIP phone lines makes it impossible to hide them behind firewalls and other protections. Fortunately, there are new security protocols that can protect your communication infrastructure against those who try to use force to gain access to your directory information. When properly implemented, these protocols can also identify, reroute, and filter calls coming from known attackers.

Any business that relies on VoIP for communication needs to take steps to protect its VoIP system against TDoS attacks. Such attacks can greatly disrupt operations, and in some cases, even result in financial loss. By working with a reputable VoIP provider and taking proactive measures to secure your system, you can ensure that your business is able to weather any TDoS storm.

Don’t let an attacker take away your business’s ability to communicate securely with customers and partners Contact our IT experts and take the next steps to secure your VoIP system today.