Communication service providers (CSPs) put their brand on the line every time a customer uses their services. If they fail just once to deliver instantaneous, secure, and uninterrupted access, they lose revenues and put customers and business growth at risk.
But their ability to provide these secure online experiences reliably, without fail, is under constant assault from cybercriminals. CSPs are a particularly attractive target for bad actors. They store large amounts of sensitive and potentially valuable personal data, and their networks serve as a direct gateway to many more targetable businesses.
No surprise, then, that CSPs have been hit more often by high impact attacks – think APTs (advanced persistent threats) and other sophisticated assaults – than organizations in any other industry, including IT, banking, and even government.
Because access is so crucial to their business, they are particularly vulnerable to ransom attacks via malware or DDoS threats. And in fact, according to the IDC 2022 Global DNS Threat Report, CSPs have been targeted more often by DDoS attacks, affecting 37% of providers. Overall, attacks against communications providers have spiked by 51% in just one year.
In this worsening threat environment, CSPs need a range of protections and assurances to maintain secure, unimpeded online experiences:
- Authoritative DNS that ensures reliable connections and access, always
- Protective DNS that can neutralize attacks before they happen to protect data and assets
- Application security to protect critical internet-facing business functions and data
- DDoS mitigation to keep access open and data flowing across their infrastructure
In identifying and implementing these essential solutions, however, CSPs must address a range of challenges that are unique to their industry.
Network complexity.
Every CSP operates a sprawling infrastructure with innumerable endpoints that comprises multiple generations of physical and virtual devices and technology, with wide variations in their inherent security and protections. These complex networks present cybercriminals with a vast attack service and easy accessibility from anywhere in the world. Securing and protecting such a massively large and heterogeneous target requires advanced, adaptable, purpose-built security solutions designed to scale effortlessly.
- Cloud-based solutions provide strong and flexible protections that can effectively cope with the challenges of these complex hybrid networks. Cloud-based applications protect cloud resources as well as physical assets in business locations and data centers worldwide. They can be reconfigured relatively easily and quickly to adapt to different requirements, and scale rapidly to meet the needs of a constantly expanding and changing infrastructure.
Operational integration.
Integrating security solutions into a CSP’s operations – and managing them effectively on an ongoing basis – can be a big challenge. The prospect of configuring and integrating a complex solution with a CSP’s existing disparate, multi-generational security and monitoring applications – and ensuring that critical data and alerts from the solutions flow into them seamlessly – is technically daunting at best, and at worst almost impossible.
Ongoing management to keep pace with an evolving network and constantly changing threats is an additional challenge. Like integration and configuration, effective administration requires dedicated, specialized IT expertise that is in increasingly short supply throughout the industry.
- Solving the integration puzzle requires a collaborative partnership with a provider that has demonstrated experience addressing the challenges of carrier-level deployments, including integration with existing FCAPS and SIEMs. Managed solutions – where the provider assumes responsibility for day-to-day operation in collaboration with the CSPs IT team and systems – minimize the ongoing demands on limited in-house IT resources. Again, familiarity with the special demands of CSP operations is a crucial qualification.
Cost and CAPX management.
The markets CSPs operate in have become even more intensely competitive in recent years, shrinking operating margins and limiting available capital resources. Of course, no CSP can afford to shortchange the security and reliability of the access they provide their customers in the name of economy, but they do have an obligation to ensure that they are receiving value for their security investments.
Unfortunately, access and security solutions must have the capacity to handle both significant spikes in legitimate traffic volume as well as the capabilities to address the largest and most sophisticated attacks, even if these capabilities are rarely needed. And the CAPX demands of building state-of-the-art security capabilities, such as a Security Operations Center (SOC), are significant, and repetitive as upgrades and updates are necessary.
- Managed solutions from capable partners address these cost concerns. When built to carrier-grade standards and capacity, they can scale effortlessly to handle customer traffic surges and prevent massive, sophisticated attacks and threats from compromising access or security. The best providers operate their own SOC, staffed around the clock by security professionals, so that the specialized expertise needed to counter sophisticated and complex attacks is immediately available at the first appearance of a threat. They also continually update their solutions to keep their customers ahead of the evolving threat landscape.
Competitive pressures.
One reason for the heightened pressures characterizing CSP markets is the emergence of new and more nimble competitors with disruptive business models. To counter these new players and maintain or expand their market share and profitability, established CSPs need to gain every competitive and cost advantage they can. In markets that have become more commoditized, reliability and security can be important differentiators, especially for larger customers with important security considerations.
Value-added services for customers – for example, capable security solutions like whitelabeled versions of those services CPS employs – can also set a company apart from its competitors and contribute to a reputation for innovation.
- Cloud-based solutions that can quickly scale to meet changing traffic requirements and counter evolving threats can help an established CSP adopt more nimble and flexible business practices, and support service innovations.
- CSPs can also benefit from solution providers who understand their unique business and operational needs. For example, some providers support specialized industry security requirements, such as HIPPA, that can differentiate a CSP for its own customers. Carrier-conscious providers also make it simpler to whitelabel their solutions for resale with carrier-friendly features like support for multitenancy and project codes.
Did I mention reliability?
The most important consideration takes us back to where we started: CSPs cannot afford any stumbles in access, performance, or security. They must seek a solution provider with a proven track record; a commitment to the highest levels of reliability, service, and support; and a dedication to deliver outstanding solutions in access and security, now and into the future.
Vercara checks all these boxes.
Learn more about how we help CSPs overcome all the challenges they face to ensure online access, protect their assets and applications, and identify and counter threats proactively.
