Kayote Networks VoIP Research Initiatives

Kayote Networks is dedicated to pioneering new technologies that may enhance VoIP communication. We believe that preparing now for threats to VoIP only beginning to emerge will guarantee the robustness of our systems far into the future.

The Threat of SPIT

With the threat of SPIT looming just over the horizon, the ever growing popularity of VoIP offerings worldwide provides an attractive user base at the disposal of malicious parties capable of mounting attacks with minimal resources and expenditure. As VoIP technology becomes more widely deployed, it is becoming apparent that security concerns are of primary importance to widespread adoption of VoIP - particularly in full IP-to-IP communication scenarios.

"SPIT has not yet brought any businesses to a standstill, but it is clear that existing filters are not engineered to address voice-related security. VoIP adoption is accelerating, and enterprises need to be looking for solutions today to ensure that they are adequately equipped to prevent SPIT attacks from crippling their IP telephony systems."

Jon Arnold, Principal of analyst firm J. Arnold & Associates

"SPIT will differ from conventional email SPAM in that telephone calls are immediately invasive. There is no content to mine or inbox to filter and the Caller ID of the call will appear legitimate. Our security initiative provides the tools to profile the call and determine if it is acceptable to the recipient and to pass that information to network elements such as a firewall or Session Border Controller to allow them to filter, reject, or divert suspicious calls accordingly."

Baruch Sterman, CEO Kayote Networks.

Joint Security Initiative

Recognizing the growing threat of Spam for Internet Telephony (SPIT), Kayote Networks has joined forces with Check Point Software Technologies and XConnect Global Networks to define a framework for better SPIT detection. The underlying assumption is that while network border elements such as firewalls can prevent many types of misuse on their own, an external centralized entity may be able to enhance the overall level of security and trust by collecting and passing additional information to those elements on a call by call basis.