Are companies like Skype safe for computer users? What risks should users be aware of?
There are over 500 million Skype users. The computer is safe as long as you keep current with the latest anti-virus and operating software and or have a firewall. Security is another issue of concern. VoIP is vulnerable to the same issues that affect the data network, viruses, spam, DoS and so on. It is much easier to “tap” into the network and capture data then tapping into your phone line. This will become less of an issue as advances in encryption and other security measures continue to develop and be deployed. Also, if your phone call travels across networks which do not support QoS, the quality of your phone call may suffer. The UCI IP Phones such as the Cisco IP Phones deployed at Calit2 are secure. The network they are connected to can tell the difference between an IP phone and other types of network devices. The IP phones are put into their own private VLAN (Virtual Local Area Network) which other devices–such as computers–cannot “see”.
