Workshop on Securing VoIP in Washington, D.C. June 1st and 2nd

The Cybersecurity Industry Alliance and tekVizion are co-sponsoring the 2nd Workshop on Securing Voice over IP to be held June 1st and 2nd in Washington, D.C.

The workshop aims to engage government stakeholders, academic researchers and industry leaders in discussions about the technical challenges and implications to policy and law of securing VoIP networks. The workshop will focus on identifying critical issues surrounding VoIP security, as well as identifying and brainstorming solutions to these issues. Organizers hope to leave the conference with an action plan to provide more research into the issues identified, including a plan to develop a nationwide research network. The network would be used by universities and others to develop and test new techniques and algorithms for preventing, identifying, tracing, isolating and recovering from attacks on VoIP networks.

"IP-enabled technologies such as VoIP hold enormous promise for government and enterprise organizations. As we look to take advantage of the many benefits of IP communications, it is important that we also proactively address challenges associated with secure and reliable deployment of VoIP given the importance of our telecommunications networks to our economy and our homeland security," said Paul B. Kurtz, executive director of the Cyber Security Industry Alliance. "For this reason, CSIA is hosting this workshop, which will bring together leading experts on VoIP deployment and security to address the technology, research, regulatory and public policy issues presented by VoIP."

"A low-end PC launching a denial of service attack can bring down an entire enterprise VoIP system within a few minutes," said Ram Dantu, program workshop chair and assistant professor at the University of North Texas department of engineering and computer science. "While some vendors are providing [end-point] solutions, what is needed is a layered approach to network security. Networks need several devices providing different aspects of network security and communicating potential threats to one another in real time. This is one of the topics that will be explored at the workshop."

In addition to co-sponsoring the event, tekVizion's Jim Deerman will be presenting an overview of VoIP at the beginning of the conference.

"As an integrator, we address all aspects of our customer's VoIP deployments," said Lee Phillips, Sr., chief executive officer of tekVizion. "Security is not an afterthought, but rather a crucial element that must be designed into the network. We strive to stay at the forefront of issues surrounding security, and this workshop is an important event for VoIP security research."

The workshop is free to government participants; registration for non-government attendees is $195. Participants can register here.

CM