Cisco Systems has enhanced its IP telephony security with the launch of CallManager 4.1.

The new version of Cisco's IP telephony system provides voice media and signaling encryption for new and currently installed 7940G and 7960G IP telephones. IP voice connections will now be encrypted from the phones themselves. The new media encryption features will shield IP voice conversations from eavesdropping, while signal encryption protects against tampering with the signaling packets, such as hacker denial of service attacks.

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Cisco is making an effort to lock down security across much of its IP telephony line. It has also added media encryption support to its Media Gateways, supplementing its existing Voice over Virtual Private Network and threat defense security features, ensuring more secure connections to remote sites and legacy telephony equipment. With the addition of secure private messaging to its Unity unified communications solution Cisco will provide the industry's first encrypted voice messaging features.

Cisco's IP communications security recently received the highest rating in tests by Miercom. The tests found that hackers were not able to disrupt its voice over IP connections.

CallManager 4.1 is available as a free upgrade to CallManager 4.0 users and bundled with the Cisco Media Convergence Server.