Canadian Security Magazine

City of Ottawa testing cyber security products

By Canadian Security   

News Public Sector cyber security telecom

The municipality of Ottawa is taking a lead in educating the public about cyber security by conducting trials of new cyber security solutions via the city’s Innovation Pilot Program. This new program undertakes pilot testing of innovative technologies in a variety of municipal interest areas.

“In Ottawa, we are continually trying to stay ahead of the curve as it relates to IT security. We are one of the first municipalities in Canada to undertake an Innovation Pilot Program to expose our officials to the latest technology in a variety of fields that are important to us as a municipality,” said Mayor Jim Watson. “One of the first companies to step forward to pilot with us in IT security was VoIPshield.”

VoIPshield Systems Inc. is a company that audits and protects Voice-Over-Internet (VoIP ) voice networks to ensure they are secure. Together with the city’s IT officials, VoIPshield undertook a pilot trial of their audit compliance product VoIPaudit 4.2.

“When it comes to privacy, ask yourselves, how often are you disclosing personal or financial information over the telephone?” Rob Gowans, CEO of VoIPshield Systems, asked. “If that phone is connected to the Internet, it is not protected by firewalls that are not configured for VoIP security.”

Ottawa Mayor Jim Watson says the Innovation Pilot Program will give the city insight into innovative new technologies, in a variety of municipal interest areas.

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Gowans says having the city’s validation will make it much easier for companies like his to sell to government.

“It can sometimes be very difficult to be noticed by large procurement agencies inside government. One of the main challenges is awareness. We have seen RFPs go out for phone systems that do not have security stipulated as part of the required solution. We think initiatives such as this are vital to raising awareness in government about the need to protect all networks,” said Gowans.


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