SP 800-58: Security Standards for VoIP and IP Telephony Systems
When you hear SP 800-58, a NIST publication that sets security requirements for IP telephony systems. Also known as NIST Special Publication 800-58, it’s the blueprint many businesses follow to keep VoIP calls from being hacked, eavesdropped on, or hijacked for toll fraud. This isn’t theory—it’s the reason your company’s phone system doesn’t get drained by international scammers in the middle of the night.
SP 800-58 doesn’t just talk about firewalls. It digs into how SIP registration, the process where VoIP phones prove they’re allowed to make calls should be secured with strong authentication, not weak MD5 hashes. It tells you how access segmentation, splitting network access by role to limit damage stops a junior employee’s compromised device from giving attackers full control of your phone system. And it insists on least privilege, giving users only the permissions they absolutely need—which is exactly why 83% of VoIP attacks fail when this rule is enforced.
These aren’t just IT checklist items. They’re what separate a phone system that works from one that’s a liability. If you’ve ever wondered why your call recording needs consent forms, why your SIP trunk requires rate limiting, or why your headset setup includes network isolation—SP 800-58 is why. The posts here don’t just mention these terms. They show you how to apply them: how to set up Fail2ban for SIP brute-force attacks, how RBAC stops toll fraud before it starts, and how to configure call recording without breaking privacy laws. You’ll find real-world setups that follow SP 800-58’s guidance—not just vendor marketing. Whether you’re securing a church’s donation line, a school’s emergency paging system, or a remote team’s VoIP calls, the rules are the same. What follows is a collection of practical guides that turn those rules into action.
