gateProtect released a security patch for its Unified Threat Management appliances that allows companies to block the use of Skype. This gives them a reliable way of stopping dangerous malware from entering the network via a potential security vulnerability, while preventing unwanted messaging and chatting during working hours. The patch, called HU-01050, is available immediately and will be installed automatically on all gateProtect firewall systems from Version 8.6 via the update server.

Broadvox and UM Labs announce interoperability certification between Broadvox GO! SIP Trunking and UM Labs’ family of enhanced SIP security controllers.

“Interoperability certification provides resellers and customers with confidence that Broadvox’s growing ecosystem of technology partners can support their specific PBX environment and provide enhanced cost effective connectivity and security solutions”, said Isaac Parampottil, Director of Product Management at Broadvox. “We welcome UM Labs as a technology interop partner.”

Sipera Systems unveils a series of enterprise UC application security breakthroughs at the VoiceCon Orlando conference next week. Sipera also announced its SLiC smartphone security solution has been designated a Best in VoiceCon award finalist.

Sipera, a VoiceCon Orlando Silver sponsor, will conduct multiple demonstrations and product overviews in Sipera's booth, #408, the Cisco Systems Partner Pavilion, booth #1111, and with Coleman, a Presidio Company, in booth #937.

Acme Packet will showcase its Net-Net session border controller solutions that deliver trusted, first-class unified communications for enterprise, contact center and government organizations March 22 – 25 at VoiceCon 2010, in Orlando, Fla. Acme Packet, a Best of VoiceCon award finalist, will be presenting, exhibiting and demonstrating its Net-Net product family at the Gaylord Palms Resort & Convention Center in booth 1129 located in the Florida Exhibit Hall on the lower level.

360networks has selected Empirix’s Hammer XMS to enhance its monitoring and troubleshooting capabilities of potential issues across its more than 17,000 route miles of fiber optic network across the western United States.

360networks helps its voice, data and web-based application and service provider customers quickly pursue next-generation strategies, migrate from legacy networks, grow into new markets and services, and increase network diversity. By providing increased efficiency for analyzing, diagnosing and troubleshooting network issues, as well as providing the ability to correlate multiple VoIP and SS7 protocols, Hammer XMS enables 360networks to deliver high quality services to these customers

SonicWALL will be exhibiting at the VoiceCon conference in San Francisco, November 2-5, where the company will be discussing the rising use of VoIP, how to maintain high Quality of Service and low latency for voice traffic in a secure network environment. SonicWALL invites attendees to join them at booth #503 to view product demonstrations, join associated seminars and meet with executives to learn more about the new threats facing companies today and which questions to ask vendors when considering such voice deployments.

Sipera Systems announces availability of the Sipera Secure Live Communications (SLiC) mobility solution. Delivering breakthrough enterprise-class communications privacy and security for VoIP and UC on smartphones, Sipera SLiC makes smartphone VoIP and UC "business ready."

Sipera SLiC is the industry's first security solution enabling enterprises to "tame" the smartphone, permitting employees to use VoIP, UC, cloud telephony, and other low-cost and feature-rich communications applications on mobile devices with complete security and privacy. In an important industry first, Sipera SLiC enables smartphone VoIP to include smart-card card authentication for accessing enterprise resources, providing unparalleled access control and communications privacy.

SonicWALL announces Patrick Sweeney, VP of Product Management and its resident expert on VoIP and video technologies, is available for comment about the threats associated with VoIP and video transmissions. He is also available to discuss the emerging requirements to control bandwidth and prioritize business critical applications as converged networks continue to grow. If interested, he can comment on the recent attempts by certain governments to control VoIP use.

Sipera Systems announces an initiative with Westcon Group the leading specialty distributor in networking, convergence, security and mobility, to provide comprehensive VoIP/UC security solutions customized for education, healthcare, and finance.

The explosive growth of the VoIP market, has compelled security vendors to look for solutions to harden VoIP installations for their clients. When Salare Security recently announced its vPurity solution to address VoIP security, one OEM Security vendor jumped at the opportunity to license it to protect its clients from the increasing security risks of VoIP that require mitigation.

Sipera Systems reports that VoIP toll fraud continues to escalate, based on evidence uncovered in numerous VoIP and UC architectures. Across dozens of security architecture reviews and solution deployments, Sipera's security experts have discovered numerous cases of vulnerabilities commonly exploited for toll fraud, including confirmed fraud resulting in losses ranging from a few thousand dollars to hundreds of thousands of dollars.

Research and Markets has announced the addition of John Wiley and Sons Ltd's new report "SIP Security" to their offering.

This book gives a detailed overview of SIP specific security issues and how to solve them While the standards and products for VoIP and SIP services have reached market maturity, security and regulatory aspects of such services are still being discussed. SIP itself specifies only a basic set of security mechanisms that cover a subset of possible security issues. In this book, the authors survey important aspects of securing SIP-based services. This encompasses a description of the problems themselves and the standards-based solutions for such problems. Where a standards-based solution has not been defined, the alternatives are discussed and the benefits and constraints of the different solutions are highlighted.

Recently published reports predict that nearly 75 percent of corporate phone lines will be using VoIP in the next two years; expectations are that half of small-to-medium sized businesses and two-thirds of all enterprise organizations will be using VoIP. By this year's end, the global total number of VoIP subscribers (residential and commercial) is expected to reach nearly 100 million users. Because of the ubiquity of VoIP, it is quickly emerging as a new and substantive threat vector to businesses worldwide. The following are the leading threats to business networks that use VoIP:

Mark Collier, a leading telephony and VoIP security scientist, author, and blogger, announces the release of his “VoIP Security Trends and Predictions for 2009.” The latest edition of Collier’s annual prognostications was posted today to his popular VoIP security blog at www.voipsecurityblog.com, alongside a “2008 VoIP Security Year in Review” companion discussion posted on January 13, 2009. Collier is CTO and VP of engineering of SecureLogix Corporation, an enterprise telephony security, optimization, and management company.

The FBI has identified a new technique used to conduct vishing attacks where hackers exploit a known security vulnerability in Asterisk software. Asterisk is free and widely used software developed to integrate PBX systems with VoIP digital Internet voice calling services; however, early versions of the Asterisk software are known to have a vulnerability. The vulnerability can be exploited by cyber criminals to use the system as an auto dialer, generating thousands of vishing telephone calls to consumers within one hour.