Infoblox has announced its participation as a main sponsor of the Cyber Security in Telecoms event taking place at the Marriott Al Jaddaf hotel in Dubai between 23rd – 24th May, 2016. The company will be sharing best practices and insights on the latest technologies that service providers can implement to combat Domain Name System (DNS) based cyber attacks on their networks.
Cherif Sleiman, General Manager, Middle East at Infoblox says, “Security has risen to the top of provider-selection criteria used by subscribers and enterprises alike. Most subscribers, in fact, list security as more important to them than access to the latest devices. Unsecured devices put network assets at risk, and unhappy subscribers can damage a trusted, valuable brand and reputation. Recently, the weak-point being exploited has been the foundation of the internet itself – the DNS.”
“Due to its critical role in establishing all forms of connectivity across the internet, DNS traffic is always allowed to pass through firewalls. This has not escaped the attention of criminal elements who increasingly are exploiting the lack of defences for DNS infrastructure. Over the past two years, DNS has become the latest target and has rapidly become one of the most severe points of exposure in service provider networks. In mobile networks, for example, DNS servers were identified as the number one exposure in 2014. As leaders in the DNS space, we are using this event to educate attendees about imminent threats to their networks and what technologies they need to implement that will provide an improved subscriber experience and deep protection from a wide range of DNS attacks and malicious domains.”
Malicious software is a real threat. Every year, millions of smartphone users experience undesired behaviour on their phones such as the sending of unauthorised text messages or accounts accessed without their permission—symptoms indicating the presence of malicious software. Security has risen to the top of subscriber and enterprise criteria for choosing service providers, with most consumers listing security as more important to them than access to the latest devices. Subscribers are surprisingly lax in applying security solutions to their own devices, yet quick to place blame on service providers.
Unprotected subscribers create high cost and reputation risks for operators. Unwanted activities from applications, even those freely downloaded and accessed by the subscribers themselves, will negatively impact the brand reputation of the operator, increasing churn and reducing upsell revenue opportunities. These risks include:
- Customer dissatisfaction: Unhappy subscribers with infected devices increase expensive trouble calls to customer care and cause subscribers to leave altogether.
- Service disruption: Malicious hackers can control infected devices and send traffic floods into the network. Hackers can even exfiltrate data from subscriber devices using a variety of techniques.
- Unauthorised premium services: Once discovered, the charges must often be credited back to the subscriber, adding costs for processing.
- Negative revenue impact: Use of imposter services replaces use of legitimate, revenue-generating services.
- Potential upsell opportunities are lost as victimised subscribers might now be eager to purchase a premium service from another provider to prevent such breaches.
Besides sharing insights and best practices at the event, executives from Infoblox will also demonstrate the company’s Secure DNS solution for service. The solution can maintain critical DNS service availability in rapidly evolving networks with growing traffic, and can even keep traffic moving during a distributed denial of service (DDoS) attack. When combined with patented Infoblox Grid technology, the solution further ensures optimal operator visibility and control across all DNS infrastructure, including automated kill chain during security incidents. This enables quick detection of any service- threatening attacks while easing operational costs and increasing manageability.
“It’s critical that the technology deployed for service provider network control provides maximum protection and offers minimum attack surface. Infoblox clearly differentiates from other vendors from a security perspective. From our highly secure hardware form factor, to our hardened OS, to the variety of security features in our applications—no other network control vendor focuses more on security than Infoblox,” concludes Cherif.
