University of Alabama at Birmingham researchers are explaining why there are concerns with the end-to-end security of an increasingly popular means of communication, and what users can do to defend against potential threats.

Through a project funded by Cisco Systems, researchers in the Department of Computer Science examined the vulnerabilities in security of video- and voice-over-Internet protocol, or VoIP, communications. The team developed attacks that uncovered these vulnerabilities in a currently used security scheme, and once those weaknesses were identified, the team suggested alternatives that may protect against potential attacks.