Love without conversation is impossible. Similarly, running a successful business without communication is impossible. Well, I agree it is a weird way to compare relationships with business, but when we think logically, where there are people involved, communication is the key to overcome every challenge.

What is Unified Communications (UC)?

The term Unified Communications or UC describes the integration of various communication tools by a business to stay connected via a bunch of collaboration tools.

Seamless integration of Unified Communications in the digitally sound era ensures a good level of interaction throughout the workforce that is distributed globally. Primarily, it eliminates silos between teams, and irrespective of where you work, you can still access the same system and incorporate features like,

  • Messaging
  • Team collaboration
  • Video conferencing
  • Voice and video calling and more

Unified communication challenges faced by enterprises

Just like any other technology, even UC is prone to vulnerabilities that can be exploited by threat actors.

UC has the potential to dramatically improve the efficiency of an organization and streamline life for individuals within it. With the help of integrated communications methods, businesses now need not worry about important messages getting lost or delayed.

However, the universal truth that nothing is perfect applies to UC as well. Considering that a business works with external vendors or is involved in creating an in-house UC solution, there are significant security issues that need to be dealt with to protect the enterprise.

The increasing threat of cyberattacks on business

Digital transformation has got more and more businesses rapidly moving to UC online. With the fact that customers are getting through IoT, cyber assets are being exposed to risk more than ever. Companies, too, are aware of the situation, and many of them are putting security before everything.

As per a report by ESG Global, 60% of enterprises surveyed were increasing their cybersecurity budget this year. Moreover, Cybersecurity Ventures state that cyberattacks are growing at a faster rate globally, and it predicts its damages to cost a gigantic USD 6 trillion globally by 2021 (that is a lot of money).

However, to not put that whopping amount of money and priceless information/data at stake, let’s take a look into the seven biggest security issues faced by Unified Communications.

Note: Pay close attention to these critical issues to achieve a UC strategy that keeps business security intact.

  • Datacenter vulnerability
  • Demand spike protection
  • Messaging encryption
  • Security controls
  • Fraud prevention
  • Network flexibility
  • Employee errors and vulnerability

Mentioned above are the most common security issues related to unified communications. But the good news is they can be overcome if you are aware of the source (where they come from) and why they are dangerous, and what can be done to beat them.

The bitter truth

Cyber threats are increasing exponentially every year. For a large number of companies, these attacks are no longer a possibility but bitter truth.

A few ransomware attacks making headlines in the past will leave you flabbergasted.

Here are a few links that narrate about some of the ugly ransomware attacks of our times.

So what can businesses do to protect unified communication against cyberattacks?

Educate/train employees

A large chunk of cyber issues is a direct effect of human errors. Often a lot of them are recorded due to careless or untrained employees.

Elements like scam emails and weak or reuse of passwords are a simple but easy breakthrough for threat actors. Phishing schemes are a chronic issue confronted by employees, and most of them in the clan are ill-equipped or undertrained to handle them.

The solution

Cybersecurity policies and awareness must be implemented into practice to keep the workforce up-to-date on cybersecurity protocols. The need for businesses is to invest in training and education programs to guide employees on actions to be taken in case of a potential threat or cyberattack.

Build-on a security culture

It is essential to create a security-driven culture in the organization.

Considering the surge in remote work environments and tools, newer kinds of cyber threats receive an open invitation. Therefore, it is inevitable for cybersecurity experts, leaders, and employees to meet periodically to discuss and create a plan of action to stay ahead of such attacks.

The solution

Businesses can create different communication groups to deal with various technology platforms via calling, emailing, or messaging. From the solutions point of view, even larger organizations are recommended to create teams dedicated to streaming and social platforms to build a security culture in the organization.

Maintain an efficient configuration management database (CMDB)

Several organizations tend to ignore their CMDB, which makes their entity highly susceptible to cyberattacks.

By overlooking the maintenance of CMDB, businesses find it extremely difficult to implement security procedures. This little mistake makes way for blunders and can cost a fortune to the company.

The solution

Strengthening CMDB and keeping the equipment in shape and up-to-date can work as a panacea.

Takeaway

The benefits of unified communications in the pandemic era are a blessing. Staying connected without meeting in person has been a great support for smooth business functioning.

But with the good also comes the evil. Therefore, associating with the most suitable unified communication companies offering cybersecurity solutions is the need of the hour. And to leverage the power of enterprise unified communications for your business, make sure to adhere to the above-mentioned tips.

To know the in and out of unified communications, download our latest whitepapers on unified communication.