Nokia Networks is responding to the growing avalanche of malicious mobile network attacks that saw a 75% explosion in total malware from Q4 2013 to Q4 2014*, with virtual cloud architecture a potential target. Long-standing partner Check Point Software Technologies is the vendor to provide its firewall for certification and integration with the Nokia Networks telco cloud security solution. Integration with other firewalls will also be made available in the near future.
Cloud computing and virtualisation promise lower costs and greater business agility to allow operators to adapt to fast-changing user demands. At the same time, security threats are growing with virtualisation and the move to distributed and cloud-based architecture**.
A three part Nokia Networks solution
Nokia Networks provides a comprehensive solution to help operators address the increasing security challenge to their telco clouds:
- Nokia Cloud Security director, launched at Mobile World Congress 2015, enables operators to automatically deploy security policies and functions in cloud and hybrid networks. This greatly reduces effort and cost compared to manual methods, and mitigates the risk of losing revenue from security breaches. Compliant with forthcoming ETSI NFV*** security standards, Cloud Security Director allows operators to meet local regulations cost-effectively.
- Cloud perimeter firewalls and management systems from vendors can be integrated with the Nokia Networks telco cloud security solution, with the Check Point firewall being the first to be certified. This approach is part of the Nokia Networks partnering strategy for business growth.
- Nokia cloud wise services support operators from analysis of cloud strategy, to architectural design and implementation of full telco cloud security. The implementation phase provides secure migration alongside a hardening procedure for the hypervisor and overall telco cloud infrastructure.
David Snow, principal analyst, Current Analysis, said: “Many Management and Orchestration (MANO) vendors include ‘security’ as a pillar adjacent to their ETSI MANO stack offering. However, at Mobile World Congress this year, Nokia Networks took the step of making the top level of its telco cloud security management solution explicit in a product, operating alongside, and with, the company’s Cloud Network director. This approach is more convincing for operators than a vendor’s ‘security-in-everything-we-do’ proposition.”
Amnon Bar-Lev, president, Check Point, said: “Attackers have become more creative in their attempts to compromise mobile networks, and virtual cloud architecture is becoming an increasingly attractive target. Working in unison with our partners, Check Point provides the most advanced, integrated security solutions to deliver complete protection for cloud infrastructures and secure enterprises’ future deployments.”
Giuseppe Targia, vice president of Security Business at Nokia Networks, said: “As operators migrate to the telco cloud, a new approach is needed to address the corresponding security threats. Our strategy is to provide operators with the industry’s most secure solutions. To achieve that, we combine our mobile network and security portfolio and know-how with the expertise of the leading security vendors.”
* McAfee quarterly threats report Q4 2014.
** A live telco cloud demonstration of the threats and how operators can best tackle them is available at the Nokia Security Center in Berlin.
*** ETSI Network Functions Virtualisation (NFV).
