VoIP and Open Ports

[guest]

Greetings!
Since I started using VOIP broadband phone service about 3 days ago, Norton Firewall scans are saying that my pc is now open to hackers due to open ports.

Question, how secure is your pc once you begin using VOIP Broadband Phone Service?

Thanking you in advance for your expert opinion and advice.

Gericho

[Rob]

Hi,

if you are using a softphone on your PC, then there is the possibility of two different types of port being opened and detected by your Antivirus software.

The first port is potentially opened for the SIP protocol (see http://www.whichvoip.com/voip/articl...hat_is_sip.htm for more details). This does not always need to be opened, but some softphones do open a port for incoming SIP connections when they are started.

The other port that could be opened, occurs when you have a VoIP session going. This is for the RTP and RTCP protocols, that require voice to be sent from the remote computer to your local computer. Without these ports being opened then VoIP can not be received.

Now, are these a security concern? Maybe. It depends on the softphone you are using, and how secure it is.

Rob