Library items tagged: security

This checklist is intended as a guide for site administrators. It may not be an exhaustive list of issues (this will vary depending on the site security policy, for example), but should be of assistance as a starting point. Task Note Plan deployment topology for H.323 equipment.

This document has presented a discussion of the security issues involved with deploying a site H.323 videoconferencing service. While many sites may see their H.323 videoconferencing facilities function perfectly well without giving much, if any, consideration to security, security is invariably only as good as the weakest link.

It has become increasingly popular over the last few years for Janet sites to deploy firewalls; many sites have realised that their users do not require full, open access to all workstations and servers on a campus. By controlling access, staff time can be saved in chasing up ‘hacking’ incidents, and the types of service used can be kept under control. Bandwidth usage is also rising dramatically, so firewalls now have to be able to operate at gigabit speeds.

It is theoretically possible that in an H.323 conference an ‘outsider’ could snoop the session, recording or relaying an apparently private conference (by inspecting data in transit) or that a snooper is able to silently join a conference (by connecting to an MCU). For an attacker, gathering data ‘on the wire’ is safer as it reduces the chance of detection and being later traced.