In this age of high-speed broadband Internet
connectivity and Voice over IP telephony, you
might be surprised to learn that modems continue
to pose a significant risk to the security of many
organisations. The oversight is understandable:
gone are the days when users gained remote access
through banks of dial-up modems and Remote Access
Servers. However, dial-up modems have not
disappeared - they've just disappeared from
view.
Not least, this has been as a direct consequence
of the rapid commoditisation of computer
technology, and its corresponding penetration into
all levels of infrastructure. Everything from the
network printer through to heating &
ventilation, power management/monitoring &
backup, building access control, voicemail and the
telephone system are based around a core computer.
What's more, these devices bear little resemblance
to their 'dumb' ancestors. They run highly capable
mainstream operating systems (such as Windows,
Linux and Unix). With such a capable system, the
incremental cost to the vendor of adding a modem
is insignificant, yet this small modification has
a potentially huge impact on lowering total cost
of ownership for the customer. The combination of
a modem and a powerful operating system make
remote maintenance practical, offering the
potential for both more responsive and more
cost-effective systems management.
The down side is that these devices are also
vulnerable to the same software bugs and
configuration flaws as their host operating
system. Without knowing where all of these devices
are, the systems that they give access to and how
well they have been secured, the sort of
unrestricted access that modems provide can pose a
real threat to business continuity. What's more,
since modems give direct access through the
telephone system, they bypass the protection
offered by your firewall and any network-based
intrusion detection/prevention systems.
This is not to say that modem solutions are
necessarily bad: they can provide cost effective
solutions where "always-on" connectivity is
unnecessary, impractical, or even
undesirable. However, it is important to
know of their existence within an
organisation, so their use can be managed,
monitored and mitigated.
Pragmatically, one of the easiest ways to
determine your exposures is by using a tool such
as Xiscan to scan your telephone network and see
what's there. (For more information on why we
think it's something you really should consider,
please take a moment to look at our modem
security FAQ.)
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Even if you are not convinced by the security
arguments, there's a further compelling reason to
scan your telephone system, especially in today's
harsh economic climate. The potential to reap
significant ongoing savings in operating costs,
with a typical ROI well in excess of 100% in the
first year alone.
In part, this stems from our tools' ability to
identify fax devices. Not only can this assist in
inventory management (with potential savings in
support costs), but it can also help you
consolidate your fax requirements into a more
cost-effective solution. However, it's also due to
our toolset's unique ability to identify unused
telephone lines. This feature can greatly assist
in capacity management and planning:
- redeployment of existing, unused capacity can
eliminate the need to procure new telephone
systems
- removing excess capacity can reduce
maintenance, licensing and line/number rental
costs
- identifying exact line usage can greatly
assist in telephony migration projects, leading
to both procurement savings and speeding up
decommissioning
For some of our customers, these benefits alone
are a sufficient business justification. The
security benefits are just an added bonus
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Our aim is to provide cost-effective, practical
solutions to help you address the security issues
and manage your telephony requirements more
effectively. We can supply both our own
industry-leading software product (Xiscan 6), a
range of Managed Service offerings, or any
combination in between, tailored to suit your
individual needs.
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