Verizon recently released its data breach report for 2009. I was interested in reading this as I still have the 2008 report. What better way to educate yourself on trends, good or bad, then comparing historical data when someone else is taking the time to do the work for you? Quickly comparing the two reports I was surprised to find very little appears to have changed. I was hoping to see improvements in increased awareness, improved processes mitigating attacks and possible new attack vectors due to this vigilance, but unfortunately this was not the case. The most telling was the section regarding attack difficulty. In 2008 approximately 55% of attacks required no skill or that of a ‘script kiddie’. In 2009 this total number decreased to 52% but surprisingly there was an increase in the ‘no skill’ needed – from 3% to 10%. Based on this report it appears that security professionals are not getting the message across regarding the basics of securing systems. Now I understand that this is one report from one vendor but Verizon is a known name as a provider. You have to assume they respond to and investigate claims by customers with their service offerings and the report should carry some weight regarding security threats and trends. One wonders if this report opens a window to the current state of VoIP security. Even during difficult economic times it appears VoIP deployments are maintaining a good pace. The expense to deploy VoIP when measured over the operating expense ROI (using the existing ip network for interoffice calls, SIP Trunking, unified communications to streamline business processes) is still attractive. Regarding a VoIP security focus are we in the industry doing enough to emphasizing the need to secure VoIP? What can we do to improve getting the message across?