On the feasibility of launching the man-in-the-middle attacks on VoIP from remote attackers

Abstract

The man-in-the-middle (MITM) attack has been shown to be one of the most serious threats to the security and trust of existing VoIP protocols and systems. For example, the MITM who is in the VoIP signaling and/or media path can easily wiretap, divert and even hijack selected VoIP calls by tempering with the VoIP signaling and/or media traffic. Since all previously identified MITM attacks on VoIP require the adversary initially in the VoIP signaling and/or media path, there is a common belief that it is infeasible for a remote attacker, who is not initially in the VoIP path, to launch any MITM attack on VoIP. This makes people think that securing all the nodes along the normal path of VoIP traffic is sufficient to prevent MITM attacks on VoIP.