VoIP gets handle on protection - Financial Post 13-Mar-2008

An interesting taxonomy of VOIP security threats (standard view; print-formatted: VoIP gets handle on protection ):

"...VoIPshield Systems Inc., an Ottawa-based software firm that develops products to secure voice communications on IP networks, warns that attacks on VoIP systems can fall into one or more of five categories.

These include privacy intrusion (call eavesdropping, call recording and voice mail tampering); availability (denial of service attacks, buffer overflow attacks and malware); authenticity (registration hijacking, caller ID spoofing and sound insertion; theft (toll fraud/service theft) and data theft through masquerading data as voice and data network crossover attacks; and voice spam, known as SPIT, which includes unsolicited calling, voice mailbox stuffing, and something called vishing (voice phishing)..."

Philips VoIP841 Skype-and-Landline (dual) phone, HUB Digital Living 8/07

Skype Helps Bridge Distances, HUB Digital Living 8/07:

The dual skype device mentioned below seems to be the one described here by the manufacturer:

"...Skype has partnered with nearly 200 hardware companies to create such Skype-certified products as cordless phones, webcams and mobile handsets that work with the service. For example, the Philips VoIP841 cordless phone (available later this year for $199.99; www.philips.ca) will let you roam around your home on a cordless device with keypad to make or accept Skype calls. In fact, this phone doubles as a landline too, so one plug on the base goes into the wall's telephone jack while the other plugs into a modem or router (no PC necessary)...."

NetworkWorld 8/07: Microsoft has a ways to go with VoIP but competitors should beware

Interesting commentary (debunk a bit of what is visible on www.microsoft.com/voip ):

"...Our analysis: While the addition of voice and video quality management adds another arrow in the Microsoft quiver, we don’t think Microsoft has a complete VoIP solution – at least not yet. But as we’ve said before, traditional suppliers like Nortel, Siemens, Avaya and Cisco need to keep ahead of the feature curve if they don’t want to be entirely displaced by Microsoft...."

Skype Enters the Enterprise - Enterprise VoIPPlanet Feb. 23, 2007

Skype Enters the Enterprise:

"...with traditional voice over IP equipment, you need infrastructure at each location where you want to make in-network calls. 'If you're a big multinational company, you have to have an IP-PBX at each location to get free calls between them all.' With the VoSKY Exchange, however you can get pretty much the same benefit with just one unit, installed at a key office. Workers in small remote offices—or on the road—can dial in with their Skype IDs, and the calls are still free.

While companies can, theoretically use Skype to their hearts' content—without added infrastructure like the VoSKY Exchange, David Tang pointed out that the Actiontec product gives IT managers 'a little bit more peace of mind, taking Skype off the desktop and isolating it in a centralized server. They can put it behind their firewall, they can put it in a separate subnet, or whatever. Basically, you're taking Skype off of the LAN,' Tang said...."