In preparation for the CCIE Voice Lab, I figured this would be a good book to read in terms of security. This book was recently published by Cisco Press and they were nice enough to send me a copy.
Summary
This book helps make the general security vulnerabilities known in terms of VOIP. Many security topics are covered such as :: DOS, session hijacking, media tapping, etc. This book also introduces the security capabilities for protocols such as H323, MGCP, SCCP and SIP.
Who should read this book?
It’s a great book for anyone looking into securing their VOIP network. This is a great starter book to help understand the challenges and different areas and protocols that need to be examined. I was hoping for more configuration related information, as this book is 95% theory based. If you understand what you need to do in terms of security but you’re looking for a practical implementation book, this isn’t the book for you. Anyone wanting to understand some of the general security concerns surrounding voice, should read this book as a first step.
What I didn’t like
Most of the screen output captures were dealing with the SIP protocol and very little was shown of SCCP and H323. While I understand the need to stay vendor neutral, I was surprised with the amount of SIP in this book. There is a lot of discussion surrounding SIP vulnerabilities. The last part of this book (last two chapters) dealt with lawful intercept. While I understand the use, I would have rather seen more configuration examples vs. something a smaller percentage of users will use.
What stands out
The first half of the book is probably the best. Part of security is understanding the signaling aspect of protocols like SIP, H323 and MGCP. The signaling process is broken down nicely and makes this book a great reference for call setup issues. The first half of the book also goes over the general security concerns you have to look out for.
