Protecting an organization’s network might be for nothing if its firewall is opening ports for voice and video communications and doesn’t know when to close them. A denial of service attack on a unified communications system can disrupt more than voice, text and video, potentially allowing hackers to access data and pass it outside of a business’ supposedly secure network.

“You think you’re protected against malware, you’re protected against email, you’re protected against web server attacks. … Well, have you really thought about the [unified communications] side?” asked Mykola Konrad (pictured), vice president of product management and marketing at Sonus Networks Inc. (dba Ribbon Communications Operating Co.) “The range of [user datagram protocol] ports to put media through is wide open. It has to be; otherwise it won’t work. And so [hackers] can exfiltrate data through that.”

Konrad spoke with Lisa Martin (@LuccaZara) and Peter Burris (@plburris), co-hosts of theCUBE, SiliconANGLE Media’s mobile livestreaming studio, at the Fortinet Accelerate event in Las Vegas, Nevada. They discussed how Ribbon Communications is partnering with Fortinet Inc. to offer a comprehensive security strategy that protects both unified communications and data.

“Ribbon Protect is going to be a bridge between the voice and video world of internet protocol communications and the data world that Fortinet works with,” Konrad explained. “We’re going to be passing information and talking between those two worlds, and therefore adding an extra layer of security to that.”

A better, safer unified communications network

Ribbon Protect offers three different value propositions to companies looking to protect their unified communications and data networks. The first is network visibility, the second is prevention of telephony fraud (also known as communications fraud), and the third is cybersecurity protection.

Everyone has experienced the frustration of dropped or misrouted calls. This is because many communications networks are composed of discordant elements that make troubleshooting difficult. Ribbon Protect provides visibility into the network, enabling fast identification and correction of communications issues, Konrad explained.

Robocalls and toll fraud are collectively known as communications fraud. Wasted time from answering robocalls and charges from fraudulent long-distance calls cost businesses billions of dollars annually, according to Konrad. Identifying and blacklisting the IP’s from which these calls are originating saves money and time, and increases security.

Ribbon Protect also helps safeguard businesses from cyberattack. In the same way that Fortinet is using artificial intelligence and machine learning to protect data streams, Ribbon Protect has an AI layer focused on detecting abnormal communication flows. Ribbon Communications’ partnership with Fortinet means suspicious activity detected by Ribbon Protect is shared, allowing flagged IP addresses to be blacklisted on both the data and communication networks, Konrad concluded.

Watch the complete video interview below, and be sure to check out more of SiliconANGLE’s and theCUBE’s coverage of Fortinet Accelerate 2018. (* Disclosure: Ribbon Communications Operating Co. sponsored this segment of theCUBE. Neither Ribbon Communications nor other sponsors have editorial control over content on theCUBE or SiliconANGLE.)

Photo: SiliconANGLE