Industry experts are warning of the dangers of Internet phone services such as Skype and Vonage being used to supply a means for cybercriminals to send spam and launch attacks. Seemingly, VoIP applications could provide tremendous cover for launching denial-of-service attacks, and because many VoIP applications use encrypted data traffic that can't easily be monitored, attackers will be able to hide themselves. The Communications Research Network is urging VoIP providers to publish their routing specifications or switch to open standards.
"These measures would...allow legitimate agencies to track criminal misuse of VoIP," Jon Crowcroft, a professor at Cambridge University in the U.K., said in a statement.