Unified Communications (UC) and Contact Centre (CC) outages pose significant security threats beyond simple service disruptions. Cybercriminals can exploit outages to launch attacks, deceive users, and compromise business communications. This article explores the security risks associated with carrier failures and how Voxology equips organisations with the tools to detect, prevent, and respond to these challenges effectively.
Vigilance around UC/CC outages is not a gentle recommendation—it’s critical.
They are far more than just a basic inconvenience. UC/CC outages can result in significant security vulnerabilities that can expose organisations to an array of problems, from cyber threats and fraud to substantial operational disruptions.
In regulated industries like finance, healthcare, utilities, and government, where real-time comms can be mission-critical, an outage can have genuinely devastating consequences. Bad actors take advantage of these outages to initiate phishing campaigns or redirect customer interactions.
What your IT team may believe is simply an outage with your carrier, or an issue with your IVR provider, may in fact be a denial-of-service attack on your communications stack that opens your organisation up to all kinds of threats. It’s absolutely essential that organisations move beyond orthodox monitoring and adopt proactive observability and security measures to mitigate such alarming risks.
In this article, we’ll explore the security challenges posed by UC/CC outages and how Voxology can assist businesses in detecting and responding to such issues before they escalate into serious threats.
Exploring the Security Challenges of UC/CC Outages
When telecom providers go down, most companies just wait it out. But in today’s threat environment, these outages can be the first sign of something significantly worse. This is especially true for banks, hospitals, and other organisations that handle sensitive information.
One major worry is that network outages could be the result of DDoS attacks targeting your communication systems. Attackers can overwhelm your phone lines with automated calls or other network vulnerabilities, effectively shutting them down. This doesn’t just disrupt your business—it can produce a distraction while hackers launch their real attack elsewhere.
There’s also the problem of fake redirects. When customers can’t reach you through normal channels, they get creative. Cybercriminals take advantage by setting up fake websites, phone numbers, social media profiles, or even Google ads that can look like your company.
Desperate customers trying to solve urgent problems might inadvertently hand over sensitive information to these imposters, leading to data theft, fraud, and account takeovers.
Inside your organisation, security gaps emerge too. Without real-time monitoring of outages, IT teams might miss vulnerabilities in your security. Attackers could exploit these gaps to bypass login systems, intercept messages, or access confidential information.
Companies need to be proactive about monitoring these situations before serious damage occurs.
Ensuring Security and Reliability with Voxology’s CX Testing Suite
Voxology offers businesses essential monitoring tools that extend beyond standard tracking to identify and address security vulnerabilities during carrier outages. Using synthetic testing and real-time analysis, companies can identify service disruptions before they develop into dangerous security breaches.
Voxology’s HeartBeat solution allows IT departments to perform active, 24x7x365 end-to-end testing of communication networks. Unlike conventional observability tools that only track traffic that actually hits your network, HeartBeat makes synthetic calls to important business phone numbers to confirm connectivity. This helps organisations detect outages as they happen, enabling them to distinguish between ordinary carrier problems and potential cyber threats.
HeartBeat also delivers sophisticated alerting and reporting functions that help IT teams punctually address suspicious activities. If a business notices an unexpected reduction in call connectivity, HeartBeat can immediately give insight into the issue, allowing security teams to decipher between transient issues vs. a possible fraud event.
This level of visibility means that organisations can maintain secure and dependable comms channels, even during carrier disruptions.
Another vital element of Voxology’s security approach is its capacity to help organisations test their business continuity and disaster recovery plans. StressTest delivers scheduled load tests that allow businesses to identify weaknesses in their communication networks and develop tactics to minimise risks before they undermine customers or operations.
Conclusion
UC/CC outages aren’t just operational headaches—they open serious security gaps that can catalyse fraud, cyberattacks and regulatory problems.
By taking a proactive approach to monitoring and security, organisations can protect their communications and stop potential threats in their tracks. With Voxology’s sophisticated monitoring, synthetic testing and real-time alerts, IT teams can maintain secure and reliable UC and CC environments even when unexpected disruptions occur.
Find out more here.
