Crazy VoIP Problems
The month of September has been rough for VoIP phone service providers. There have been attacks on a few major carriers causing a service disruption to trickle down through the VoIP industry. The carrier Star2Star which iMedia resells had been affected to some degree.
How it Happened
A flood of fake requests overwhelm servers in what is known as a Denial of Service attack (DDoS). When this happens legitimate traffic cant get through and customers are affected with service outages. The perpetrators motive was a ransom payment to stop the attack. It was reported a ransom of 100 bitcoins (~$4.2M) was demanded from Bandiwdth.com.
Should You Change VoIP services?
If you were affected by a service outage, a common question to ask is “Should I change my VoIP service?”. Probably not in this situation. The outages are beyond any individual companies control. Realistically any VoIP company could get entangled in a future attack.
Conversely, if you have had ongoing problems with your VoIP service, then sure, it sounds like there’s an underlying service problem and considering a change might be in order.
Does your business have a plan for the next outage?
Every business depends on phones to talk to clients and vendors. Any phone outage is hard to take. It’s time to start thinking about Business Continuity. You need not come up with a 25 page formal plan to address a phone or software outage. Just start with the basics – what systems are needed to service your clients in an outage.
If a phone outage causes significant financial losses for any period of time, then it might make sense to sign up with a second carrier and have two public facing phone numbers. While it might increase your monthly phone expense, you would at least have an alternative way to talk to your clients.
If you need help with Business Continuity we’re here to help you make informed decisions. Cyber risks continue to affect every business. Give us a call.
