The animated TECHTip Tutorial is available here.

SC [Session Controllers] or SBC [Session Border Controllers] are access devices operating at Layer 5 Session Layer, whereas routers operate at Layer 3 Network.

In this week’s TECHTip, we will explore VoIP security. Many of the details are in the animated version only. However, here is the introductory text. In the world of carrier and enterprise VoIP [Voice over Internet Protocol], security is becoming the top priority before implementation, not afterward. The emerging technology to provide that large-scale security is an SBC. SC [Session Controllers] or SBC [Session Border Controllers] are access devices operating at Layer 5 Session Layer, whereas routers operate at Layer 3 Network. According to one enduser, “The primary function of the SBC is to serve, basically, as a SIP aware NATing Firewall.” Some of the key SBC functions are:

• Secure network peering – private and public to enhance performance

• Topology hiding – using various types of inter-AS [Autonomous System] features as well as separating media (voice) and hide signaling (IP addresses) data streams (traffic)
• Border call routing – routing at AS level rather than with interior protocols
• Interoperability – access/restrict to reduce voice spam
• QoS & Call Admission Control – load/jitter correction
• Billing systems interoperability – reduce billing errors
• NAT [Network Address Translation] – routing for maximum performance
• CALEA [Communications Assistance for Law Enforcement Act]
• Compatibility with billing – discussed in the animated tutorial
• Dialect conversion – discussed in the animated tutorial
• Protocol conversion – discussed in the animated tutorial
• Codec conversion – discussed in the animated tutorial
• Firewall restrictions – discussed in the animated tutorial

Various types of stateful (interconnect different networks such as H.323, MGCP [Media Gateway Control Protocol] and SIP [Session Initiation Protocol]) and stateless (same networks) Session Controllers exist depending on the VoIP Network features required.

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[tags]security,voip,techtionary,sbc,sc[/tags]