Half of European VoIP business users assume that the security and interoperability level of IP endpoints is directly related to a brand name, according to research from Snom.

The global manufacturer of IP phones carried out a survey of 3,156 business users in Germany, France, Italy, Spain and the UK, to investigate current attitudes towards the security of IP phones and the importance that brand name plays in ensuring devices remain secure. 

Overall, half of European VoIP business users viewed the brand of desk phone manufacturer as irrelevant and said they are not interested in a phone’s advanced features – just that they are able to make calls from it.

While Italian, Spanish and British users were fairly aligned in their responses, 72% of German users said they were not interested in the brand. This contrasts with French respondents, with 65% saying they believe that only phones from the most popular manufacturers provide maximum security and interoperability. 

When asked if they believed that IP phones in general are secure, European users were undecided, with the results highlighting a 50/50 split amongst those who believed phones were safe versus those who did not.  In the UK, 56% of respondents do not believe their IP phones are secure.

However, a quick check of the list of vulnerabilities identified in IP phones is enough to realise that, of course, not all makes of IP phone on the market are safe. In fact, the most popular IP phone brands often have the highest number of vulnerabilities, as recent cases have shown. 

"Looking at our survey results, it’s clear that some question marks remain around the security of devices. This is a topic that needs to be highlighted, especially in relation to remote maintenance of IP phones, which has become commonplace due to lockdown measures as a result of COVID-19 and the subsequent increase in remote working," said Lee Fletcher, Channel Manager for UK & Ireland at Snom Technology GmbH. 

Finally, Snom wanted to know whether users trust their system administrators to ensure the security of telecommunications in the company. 71% of European respondents answered yes to this question – however, it was a different story in the UK, with 31% saying they are not sure who is responsible.

"While confirming that the VoIP and IP phone markets still have huge potential, our study reveals a marked indifference towards the topic of telephony security, which in times of countless attacks on IT systems requires urgent correction," comments Lee Fletcher. “This is proof that it’s important to sensitise users to the topic of security in the long term in order to prevent damage to companies.”