[VOIPSEC] ComputerWorld.au: "Enterprises must avoid IP telephony for teleworkers or face attack" - and my response

[dan_york at Mitel.com]

Mason,

Sadly, I think we will continue to see this coverage for some time. 
Telling people that VoIP works great for teleworkers (when done right) 
doesn't "sell papers" (or, in today's lingo, "attract links").  Conflict 
does.  Fear does.  Ergo... this kind of coverage.  (Cue "It's the End of 
the World as we Know It!"... dang... I need to get a 
"free-to-play-on-a-podcast" version of that song to play on Blue Box!)

Thanks,
Dan
-- 
Dan York, CISSP
Dir of IP Technology, Office of the CTO
Mitel       http://www.mitel.com
dan_york at mitel.com +1-613-592-2122
PGP key (F7E3C3B4) available for 
secure communication






Mason Harris <maharris at cisco.com>
Sent by: voipsec-bounces at voipsa.org
03/05/2007 03:45 PM
Please respond to maharris
 
        To:     dan_york at Mitel.com
        cc:     voipsec at voipsa.org
        Subject:        Re: [VOIPSEC] ComputerWorld.au: "Enterprises must 
avoid IP telephony for teleworkers or face attack" - and my response


Dan, i thought your rebuttal in the blog was spot on. Clearly this a
headline aimed at creating paranoia for the uninformed public.

The headline could have just as easily read "Enterprises must avoid
internet access for remote teleworkers or face attack"

Again we need to help educate the general public that all security
controls still apply when connecting your IPTel solution to the internet
(split-tunneling is bad, change default pws, turn off unecessary
servers, etc.)

Sadly we'll probably continue to see this kind of "the sky is falling"
media coverage as teleworker deployments proliferate. Knowledge is power
in this case, i suppose.

cheers,
Mason


dan_york at Mitel.com wrote:
> VOIPSEC readers,
> 
> FYI, ComputerWorld in Australia came out today with the article 
> "Enterprises must avoid IP telephony for teleworkers or face attack" 
found 
> at:
> 
>   http://www.computerworld.com.au/index.php/id;350011373
> 
> Since I use (secure) teleworker phones every day, I was rather annoyed 
at 
> their headline and wrote this response (since I couldn't comment at 
> ComputerWorld.au):
> 
> 
> 
http://voipsa.org/blog/2007/03/05/why-computerworldau-is-dead-wrong-about-enterprises-must-avoid-ip-telephony-for-teleworkers-or-face-attack/

> 
> As you would expect, I will naturally talk about this on this week's 
Blue 
> Box podcast when Jonathan and I record it later this week.
> 
> Given that ComputerWorld.au is an IDG property, I would expect that this 

> article might show up on other IDG websites over the next while.  (PC 
> World, Linux World, Computer World, InfoWorld, NetworkWorld, CIO, CSO, 
> etc.)
> 
> Regards,
> Dan
> 

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