Security considerations for UCaaS in 2021

There’s more to building the perfect communication stack for the new digital world than choosing the UCaaS solution with the most flexibility, and the largest range of features. According to studies, security concerns are still the biggest challenge to UCaaS and CCaaS adoption.

While today’s cloud-based environments are more secure than they used to be, there will always be security issues to overcome when managing conversations on the cloud. The IDG UCaaS and CCaaS Market trends report even highlights that around 70% of IT decision makers cite security as the biggest threat to their cloud migration campaigns.

Going forward, investing in the cloud will no longer be an option or most modern organisations. Cloud solutions are rapidly becoming the ultimate solution for dealing with issues of limited scalability and reliability in a world where employees are now globally distributed.

So how do companies overcome the security threats, and unlock the benefits of UCaaS?

Making UCaaS Security a Priority

The cloud offers endless benefits for communications, ranging from rapid deployment capabilities to easier provisioning and management. A cloud offering can easily be deployed by businesses in a matter of minutes, and a central online portal ensures business leaders can monitor connection quality and staff performance from anywhere.

However, as with any IT solution involving internet connections, security will always be a focus point. This is why trends in UCaaS and CCaaS purchasing are rapidly changing to champion providers who can offer bundled UCaaS solutions complete with built-in security features, like SD-WAN, performance monitoring, and service management.

Choosing the correct vendor capable of offering a fully managed service is the top way to improve UCaaS security according to around 90% of today’s decision makers. Beyond that, here are some of the concepts you need to consider.

1. The Data Centre

Deploying a cloud-based service like UCaaS and CCaaS means leveraging a solution typically hosted in a data centre. Today’s companies operating with remote workers and distributed teams are becoming increasingly cautious about where these data centres are location. You’ll need to consider whether data sovereignty (The location of your data) is important to you when making your purchase.

Cloud-based UCaaS solutions from a professional, high-quality vendor will come with the option for storage in a data centre suitable for your needs. These solutions can also come with access to additional security layers for data protection, such as multi-factor authentication for anyone accessing the UCaaS platform, incident response measures, and disaster recovery plans

2. Protected Calls

Today’s consumers and companies are communicating through more channels than ever before. The best UCaaS providers are on-hand to ensure those calls always go through with a high level of quality audio. But it’s not just the quality of the audio (or video connection), that matters today. UCaaS providers should also be able to offer things like constant service management and analytics, to pinpoint any potential signs of fraud or security breaches.

Calls on all channels should also be protected with Transport Layer Security, Real-time transport protocol support, and other layers of security. Many companies are rapidly embracing in technology like SIP trunking with their UCaaS and CCaaS solutions, complete with Session Border Controllers to add a further degree of protection

3. Excellent Encryption and Controls

UCaaS systems are constantly processing huge amounts of information, in the form of video, voice, and messaging. Video and screen sharing is the new norm, and teams are even recording calls more frequently to share with their colleagues. In all kinds of conversations, data needs to be securely encrypted and protected both at rest and in transit.

Aside from following the latest standards for data encryption, businesses in the UCaaS environment should also be ensuring that the correct controls are in place for their users. This will allow business leaders to decide who should have access to certain pieces of data, when people should be permitted into a call, and even who should have the right to record information. The more granular the access control, the less likely it is that information will end up in the wrong hands.

4. Intelligent Insights

Intelligence is becoming an important part of various UCaaS and CCaaS deployments for things like productivity and efficiency enhancement. However, the right AI can also be a powerful tool in protecting the network and business from issues like fraud. Phone fraudsters are currently responsible for stealing billions every year. Today’s UCaaS solutions come with tools to protect against this.

The right intelligent systems can track the presence of unusual activity in a call environment and make the business leaders instantly aware of any problems. The same technology can be used for things like voice printing to check the identity of a person on a network.

5. Improved Network Security

Since UCaaS solutions rely on the use of an internet network, that network and the endpoints on it need to be secured too. Session Border Control technology is the number one choice for protecting UCaaS solutions today. However, there are other steps that companies can implement too. For instance, having remote mobile management tools to allow business leaders to track the usage of devices outside of the office could be a valuable step.

Allowing UCaaS systems to integrate naturally with VPN services and tools for enhanced security, like single sign-on and multi-factor authentication will be another option. UCaaS solutions will also need to ensure that measures are in place to reduce the risk of spill over events happening in a public cloud environment.

Don’t Forget Compliance

Remember, alongside all the security aspects mentioned above, you’re likely to have some requirements unique to your specific business or industry. The passage of new regulations and guidelines for privacy and data protection in recent years have forced all companies to think more carefully about the way they manage data and stored information.

UCaaS providers in the landscape today are equipped to handle all kinds of statutes, from GDPR requirements, to HIPAA, and even PCI when you’re dealing with payment information on the phone. Make sure your UCaaS provider has the right custom solutions for you.