Our Complete Guide to Headset Security

In today’s technological climate, is there anything more top of mind than security? In the world of high-risk hacking, information stealing, viruses and scams, businesses and individuals alike need to make sure they have enhanced security measures no matter where they are working or who they may work for. Headset security should be at the forefront of business security. Think about it. What are you doing for most of your working day? Speaking on the phone surely sits on top of the list. This can be an area we forget about, as it’s not something we are doing on a keyboard. It’s not an email, or an online form or cloud server. And yet, we could talk to a high-ranking government official, or a colleague with high clearance in a military environment. Or maybe you’re chatting to your Nan about her top-secret lasagne recipe. Either way, you want to make sure your conversations are private and remain that way.

Cybercrime is on the rise and will only continue to become more prevalent as time goes on. All businesses are prone to cyber attacks – government or private sector. The capability to keep communications private can be make or break. This could be life or death situations, sensitive information, that if it fell into the wrong hands could be catastrophic, and simply for the privacy of customers and employees alike. The bottom line is, it’s an issue all businesses, government, financial or private sector, need to be aware of and take proactive action to combat.

Why is Headset Security Important?

Let’s be frank. As well as those reasons already mentioned, headset security is important because cybercrime costs businesses money. In fact, cybercrime cost businesses an estimated $388 billion in 2016. And cybercrime is growing too. In the last four years, attacks have increased by 44%, with each company impacted by $7.5 million on average.  And it could happen to your business. The headsets you use in your office could fall victim to a myriad of hacks, hijacking methods or simply your conversations being heard by people you don’t want to hear them. We will go into the ways further on, but for now, if you take away nothing else, remember this…

Headset security matters!!

A staggering number of businesses have been impacted by cyber security in the past 12 months alone, costing millions of dollars, and it’s only on the rise. You don’t want to fall victim to a weak spot in your communications that could easily be made secure with quality headsets that will guard you and your business.

Headset Security Problems: Cybercrime and Eavesdropping

Let’s explore the ways your communications can be compromised through the use of headsets:

Masquerade

Just as the name suggests, a masquerade attack is when a fake identity imitates access identification – much the same way you hide your face at a fancy masquerade ball, only no painful feet from sky high heels!

Once access is gained via this means, attackers have a smorgasbord of information and vital data in front of them thanks to their presence through your unsecured device. You are falling victim to any or all of the following:

• Stealing confidential data
• Modifying or deleting data
• Changing the network configuration and routing information

Weak Crypto

When your cryptographic key is compromised it’s easier for these pesky hackers to gain access to your device. Keys need to be complex, larger and they must never be revealed.

Eavesdropping

Let’s talk about eavesdropping. We’ve all done it, whether it was listening in on your parents talking about those weird neighbours and their penchant for moon bathing, or accidentally picking up the old school rotary phone extension and listening in on your big sister and her boyfriend **shudder**. Eavesdropping, in this instance, is exactly as it sounds – data being intercepted when being transmitted between devices - when you’re chatting about high-risk national security or a multimillion-dollar business deal, for example. This kind of breach is common on public Wi-Fi networks when they aren’t encrypted. In short, you need to protect yourself from vulnerabilities in your communication network.

Tampering

Tampering. Who hasn’t had some under qualified technician turn your expensive washing machine into a very heavy paperweight after they tampered where they shouldn’t have?... Just me?

Tampering basically means to play around with hardware, making is susceptible to hacking and other issues. This is why anti-tamper protection is important. When you have a TSRM (tamper-resistant security module), you will have:

• tamper resistance
• a hardened casing on the device which makes cyber attacks challenging
• tamper evident – which means an attempt was made and there is evidence of it – think about medication bottles with special seals.
• Tamper-responsive, which identifies an attack attempt and removes the at risk data.

DECT Wireless Headset Security in Detail.

DECT stands for Digital Enhanced Cordless Telecommunications and is quickly becoming the global standard for secure business wireless phone communications. DECT wireless Headsets follow a security chain that involves three steps, which are pairing, authentication and encryption. We'll go over each of these steps below.

Pairing

Pairing is the first and most important step and involves binding the headset with its base unit. Pairing can either be done wirelessly or via physically docking the headset into its base unit, which is a more secure method of pairing. Physical pairing is more secure because it ensures that the secret key that is shared during the pairing process is only exchanged by a physical connection between the headset and base unit. This makes it impossible for someone to pair a headset wirelessly without your knowledge or consent. Because that is generally how hackers do things.

Authentication

That secret key we talked about in the pairing process is now used for each and every call you make to ensure that the call is authenticated via the paired headset and its base. This means that someone with a non-paired headset cannot connect to your base unit and make or listen to calls. This authentication link is also protected by encryption for an even more secure link.

Encryption

After your headset and base unit are authenticated, when you're on a call, the audio between the headset and its paired base unit are encrypted so that no intruders can listen to it. The higher the encryption level of the headset, the more secure it is against intrusion. The encryption keys that protect this data are remade every minute to make decrypting the code doubly more difficult. As if it wasn't difficult enough already.

Are DECT Headsets More Secure than Bluetooth?

Now you may be asking yourself, do wireless Bluetooth headsets pair, authenticate and encrypt my calls? The answer is sadly no.

Put simply, being that Bluetooth is a radio-frequency device, the radio signals can be compromised to hackers who can then eavesdrop into your communications. And unlike the type of eavesdropping where someone sitting next to you on a bus can hear your end of the conversation only, if your Bluetooth headset is hacked, all parties of the communication can be heard, recorded and that information used illegally.

The bottom line is, DECT Headsets are more secure than Bluetooth headsets. With enhanced encryption and authentication they should be your first choice for secure, high level communications.

What is the Most Secure Wireless Headset?

As you may have guessed, the most secure wireless headset is in fact a DECT headset. There are two that are tied for the most secure wireless headset on the market at the moment, and they are the Jabra Engage 75 and Jabra Engage 65.

These two Jabra headsets are ASD certified meaning they have been approved by the Australian Signals Directorate for secure wireless communications. They are also the only wireless headsets on the market that uses AES 256-bit encryption, with most DECT headsets using 128-bit encryption instead. This level of encryption was unable to be broken by the ASD and provides Commercial enterprise and government agencies assurance their conversation is secure.

It's fair to say these headsets provide a safe choice for any business where conversations are sensitive in nature and require enhanced security. And if you are working in high-risk industries such as military, intelligence, government, financial and those holding large amounts of consumer data, then we would absolutely recommend you get the best and most secure wireless headset available to you.

With the rise in remote working, cyber-crime is an ongoing problem that is not going to disappear anytime soon. Businesses, agencies and financial institutions need to ensure that critical conversations can happen securely, wherever their teams are working. It’s time to be part of a more proactive security culture, and a great way to start is by investing in secure DECT wireless headsets for your business communications.

Browse our full range of Secure DECT headsets 

If you’re in need of a secure DECT headset for your business or workplace then look no further than Simply Headsets. We have an extensive range of secure headsets and we offer a LIFETIME guarantee on everything you purchase from us.

And if you have questions about Bluetooth vs DECT headset security, which headsets are the most secure, and whether a headset you're considering is a right fit for your needs, give our headset gurus a call on 1300 889 728 today!