Category: Telecom

The telecommunications industry is responsible for keeping the world connected. Telecom operators build, operate, and manage the complex network infrastructures required for all communications. Obviously, these networks deal with enormous amounts of sensitive data. This makes them attractive targets for attacks from malicious entities. The World Economic Forum in its Global Risks Report 2019, reported that the risk of cyber-attacks was among the top 5 fastest growing threats in public perception.

Telecom operators need to arm themselves against this growing risk. This post is an attempt to drive that point home by looking at where the threats could emerge from and their possible impact!

Telecommunications providers are under fire from two sides:

1. They face direct attacks from cybercriminals intent on breaching their organization and network operations
2. Indirect attacks from those in pursuit of their subscribers.

Main Network Security Threats Include:

Supply Chain Threats

As theGSMA has also said, telecom operators rely on numerous external suppliers to deliver infrastructure, products, and services. It represents a complex supply chain where downstream links inherent risks and vulnerabilities. Attackers need not address their planned target directly. In several cases, they can achieve their aim by compromising the supply chain where it is least secure.

Instances of supply chain threats are common including tampering with chipsets,vendors releasing devices in an insecure state<, and government decisions impacting supply chain resilience. This highlights the significance of understanding how products are developed and introduced into the ecosystem and managed throughout their lifecycle. The software supply chain is arguably more complicated. According to the 2018 evSecOps Community Survey, there was a 55% increase in breaches caused by vulnerable open-source software.

A failure to secure the supply chain can result in erosion of brand and trust, regulatory action, and high costs to the operator. The onus is on telecom operators to examine the products, toolsets, and technologies that form a part of their infrastructure from the security perspective.

Data Privacy

Mobile Network Operators specifically and telecom operators, in general, must gather, process, and store customer data to operate efficiently. Privacy concerns have triggered onerous regulations like GDPR in several locations. An inability to understand these laws or poor implementation can curb the flow of data and curtail the operator’s overall view of their network. Obviously, this can trigger inefficiencies for the network and create openings for attackers to go undetected, and pose a threat to the privacy and security of citizen’s data.

Such a failure to consider consumer privacy, regardless of legislative requirements, can also result in stiff fines, penal action, and even a brand-killing backlash, as seen with the LocationSmart service in the US.

Signaling Threats

As those in the telecom sector know, a signaling exchange establishes/maintains a communication channel or session on mobile telecommunications networks and assigns resources, and manages networks universally. 2/3G leverages SS7 and SIGTRAN, while 4G depends on Diameter. All generations employ SIP and GTP. Several essential services, such as short messaging service (SMS), are managed by these protocols.

While tried, tested, and trusted, many of these protocols are dated. They were often applied without an authority model but depended on implicit trust within a closed industry. Now look at the inherent insecurity of this approach in the context of the role in operating several network functions, and it will be clear that any security threats identified against these services will have a high impact. Many will remember that in 2017 an incident in Washington DC, close to the White House, saw attackers use a fake base station and SS7 access to obtain subscriber information.

Predominantly these attacks target consumers and cause a breach of privacy with all the ramifications of potential regulatory action and reputational damage.

Cloud Threats

The network perimeter is blurring, and the cloud is being regularly leveraged to facilitate operators’ operations. The cloud is where network, storage, and compute resources often reside these days. And yes, an external supplier manages all these applications.

The loss of direct control of such critical operations may diminish the operator’s level of control over the network performance, optimization, data, and quality of services. The operator also loses the capability to assess and alleviate security threats directly. They are forced to depend solely on contractual or service level agreements with the cloud provider. Seen in that light, cloud services pose a potential combination of risks concerning network availability, supply chain, and privacy.

The IoT Threats

This year has seen a major IoT thrust. And obviously, security threats are emerging. The industry has identified that several customer device manufacturers have little consideration for, or competency in, security. It’s not uncommon for them to hand over the accountability to secure the device to the uneducated customer without security instructions. These devices, when deployed, are also attached to the operator’s network. Attacking the network by leveraging these devices could potentially harm operators.

Most IoT threats come from attackers exploiting factory default settings or poorly configured devices. IoT devices are a desirable target. The significant volume of devices means many potential access points. The attacker can employ the same technique to attack different devices regardless of their primary function, leading to a large surface subject to attack with minimal effort. For eg., in 2016 the Mirai botnet, the mother of many modern IoT botnets, hijacked over 600,000 devices. The initial attack took down OVH hosting and DynDNS services.

Of course, in these cases, attackers don’t want to disrupt the network. They desire continued access to the network for information disclosure and that’s just as disruptive in the long run.

Human Threats

Having said all that, it’s unfortunately true that network attacks usually succeed due to human nature. Humans make mistakes; these are often taken advantage of by attackers to gain a foothold into the operator’s network. Employees may become disgruntled, leading to a desire to attack the operators. Internal human threats come in many forms, some malicious, others not.

Device Threats

Not all customers comprehend the threats their devices bring to the operator and network ecosystem. However, suppliers of the device, software (app) developers, and over the top service (OTT) providers are aware of the threat to the device. Because of the long-term nature of such customer relationships, several operators take over and address several device threats.

In April 2018, the WikiLeaks hacktivist group leaked a suite of hacking tools believed to belong to the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA). The leak exemplified to what extent nation-state level technologies are thought to be used in the fifth generation of cyber-attacks.Nokia reports that Android devices were responsible for 47.15% of the observed malware infections in 2019 and are the most targeted OS.

Why Revenue Protection Becomes a Mandate?

In this competitive world, revenue leakage is one of the most significant worries affecting telcos around the world. For operators, who are also distressed by deteriorating margins from the conventional voice business, protecting the existing revenue sources becomes crucial. Over the years, several research reports have highlighted the massive loss to the industry due to inadequate fraud protection and poor revenue assurance processes.

The critical challenge with revenue protection is the long gap between revenue leakage detection and fixing it. Considering the enormous volume of transactions produced in the present-day customer-centric world, telcos cannot afford such gaps. With the new problems brought by IP networks and the sophisticated interconnection frauds, detecting, and redressing the glitches becomes even more important.

Obviously, lessening the leakage exposure time can result in significant savings. Also, revenue protection is linked to multiple processes, including data collection, billing, settlement, and operations. Thus, coherent strategies for revenue protection can give telcos increased visibility into all aspects of subscriber data and help them to improve the Quality of Service (QoS). This could help improve the subscriber experience and drive up loyalty.

Subscriber management is a crucial element of revenue protection as it facilitates operators to handle customer attrition. The operators require to have visibility into subscriber’s usage and billing patterns. Such insights will enable them to introduce the right mix of services that enhance customer value and ARPU. Subscriber management proves crucial to remove billing errors and disputes.
Vulnerabilities exist on several levels in the telecom landscape: hardware, software, and human, and attacks can come from many directions. Telecom operators need to start considering security as a process that encompasses threat prediction, prevention, detection, response, and investigation. Intuitive revenue protection systems can further help in stemming the tide of lost revenue by making it possible for operators to view all potential revenue leakages in real-time for every process.

A comprehensive, multi-layered security solution based on the latest technology is a vital element to achieve this, but it is not sufficient on its own. The technology becomes a vital first step that must be followed by collaboration, employee education, and shared intelligence.

The telecom industry is evolving rapidly. Changing conditions have compelled telecom operators to shun their legacy business models and adopt new ways of operating. One such model catching the eye is the telecom service hub.

To keep pace with changes, telecom operators worldwide have started coming together strategically to form a telecom hub that connects their local service providers. The goal is to become global carriers that carry internal data and signaling traffic worldwide.

A telecom hub is cost-efficient as it reduces the costs of maintenance, deployment, and hardware. But more importantly, it gives them a wider reach to global subscribers. They are also able to implement global security practices and innovate more frequently to meet the subscribers’ changing demands.

No wonder the telecom hub is rapidly becoming a preferred model for operators.

However, a telecom hub can function seamlessly when there is trust among the different operators and local service providers. That’s possible only through improved security and concerted efforts to prevent revenue leakage.

Let’s see how the telecom hub can achieve these goals.

How Can Telecom Hubs Prevent Revenue Leakage And Build Trust?

According to the Communications Fraud Control Association (CFCA) study, around 1.74% of global frauds were telecom frauds.

Some of the common frauds that occurred in the industry included traffic pumping schemes, vishing calls, Wangari, International Revenue Sharing Fraud (IRSF), and call forwarding fraud. However, one of the leading factors for revenue leakage is the Application to Person (A2P) SMS. Companies send SMS to subscribers across the world to promote their offerings. However, a study by Mobilesquared revealed that out of the 2 trillion SMS sent by 2024, around one-quarter of them would be sent via grey routes. If this occurs, the telecom industry will be staring at a cumulative revenue loss of $37.1 billion.

Grey routes are not legal as direct routes and this has implications in the telecom hubs discussion too. In direct routes, the telecom hubs have conversion platforms. The operators have complete transparency on SMS delivery. However, when an SMS passes through a grey route, the operator and the company that sent the SMS lose track of it. The message passes through legal and illegal routes exposing the SMS to security risks. That apart, the operators also lose on the critical interconnect fees. Eventually, the SMS sent is delivered late or not delivered at all, this hurting the cause of the business that sent the messages in the first place. Also, given that grey routes fail to obey the rules and regulations between operators, there is a risk of trust deterioration with the telecom operator too.

Mobile operators earn a significant chunk of their revenue from SMS. Hence, plugging this revenue leakage is critical.

The perfect antidote to grey route messaging is SMS firewall.

An SMS firewall helps telecom operators prevent fraudulent SMS activities. It can be beneficial for various purposes.

It ensures that the subscribers do not receive any fake, spoofed, or spam messages and protects them from security breaches.

It closely monitors every SMS to check its source address, destination address, and the route that’s used to deliver the message. It ensures that there is no A2P bypass, global title bypass, or any other illegal bypass.

The firewalls can also be customized for different partners in the hub. Operators can customize the firewall rule for specific partners, income traffic sources, and sender IDs.

Most importantly, it ensures that every SMS terminating at the operator’s network is charged correctly. It helps the operators plug the revenue leakage and maximize their profits by identifying untapped sources of revenue.

SMS firewall has become so important that it is expected to grow into a $3 billion market by 2025.

Conclusion

The telecom industry is critical for a country’s economic progress. Sadly, as the telecom industry progresses, the incidents of fraud will also increase. Hence, the onus lies upon the telecom hub to establish strict measures to prevent revenue leakages. Fraudulent messages will break the subscribers’ trust and damage the operators’ reputations in the telecom hub. As the number of A2P SMS increases over the next few years, telecom operators will have to take the lead and work in collaboration to monetize it. To combat such telecom risks, the telecom operators must work with a trusted telecom solution provider who has the right capabilities, expertise, and technologies to prevent losses.

Globe Teleservices is at the forefront in providing revenue enhancement solutions to telecom operators. Our SMS firewall is an intelligent system that’s built on AI and ML. It checks for unwanted content such as fake or spoofed messages, spam, etc., and filters it. The firewall also identifies and blocks the grey routes to ensure that the SMS traffic is directed through the legal routes and the operators receive the agreed fees. As telecom operators examine solutions like telecom hubs, it’s only apt that they focus on well-rounded solutions that provide utility, functionality, and security for everyone in the ecosystem.

According to Statista, the application-to-person (A2P) market is poised to reach the heights of $45.93 billion this year. But that may just be the beginning. There’s no doubt that enterprises across different industries such as banking, healthcare, and travel are increasingly using A2P SMS to communicate with their customers. With that push, it’s no wonder that some reports suggest the A2P SMS market will grow to $64.24 billion by 2028.

A2P SMS is an ideal method for enterprises to connect with their customers. However, mobile network operators (MNO) face several challenges with SMS delivery and monetization.

These challenges could include – grey routing, unregulated networks, messages getting lost or delayed in the route, revenue leakage, an inability to terminate the SMS at the endpoint, and inability to block inappropriate content.

The operators have to take proactive measures to address these challenges and ensure timely delivery of A2P SMS.

How To Ensure A2P SMS Delivery?

1. Reliable routing

An enterprise pays for the number of messages they send and not for the number of messages received by their customers. Hence, operators have to ensure that the SMS is delivered to the right person at the right time. Often, the operators have no control over the routes. Service providers may use grey routes to deliver the SMS. Grey routes are unauthorized networks. It only results in revenue loss for operators, but it also exposes the end-customer to spam messages and potential security risks. The only way to address this issue is by ensuring that the SMS travels through a reliable and authorized network. Operators can either re-route the SMS over tested routes or do proactive route testing to identify suspect routes and curtail them. Alternately, operators can also opt for direct routing. In direct routing, the operator can set up a direct connection with operators in other countries. This will help them send a large volume of messages to customers of that country on time and protect them from malware and other security issues.

2. Monitoring and filtering content

In most countries, messages are subject to the oversight of the Government. The operators are expected to be stringent with compliance and filter or block suspicious messages. In other countries, operators are expected to monitor and block content to safeguard the customers from fake, fraudulent, and potentially dangerous content. Operators must have an active mechanism to blacklist and filter such content and ensure that customers are not bombarded with inappropriate or potentially illegal messages. Countries like India have already started taking initiatives to scrub and standardize SMS content and send it in a specific template to protect customers from spam. Monitoring and filtering content proactively will help operators safeguard the enterprise’s reputation and improve SMS delivery.

3. SMS termination

Typically, SMS termination means that the A2P SMS has been successfully delivered to the customer. Mobile operators must know about every message terminating on their network. However, in most cases, operators lose revenue due to illegal A2P routes. Sometimes hackers get access to the network and flood it with irrelevant messages without paying appropriate fees. That’s why it’s important to have a direct termination agreement with operators across different countries. This will enable the local operators to terminate messages on their network and ensure effective SMS delivery. However, ensure that these operators are reliable and will deliver the SMS safely. Reliability and trust are the foundation of the relationship between the mobile operators to function smoothly.

4. SMS firewall

SMS firewall protects the mobile networks from frauds and vulnerabilities. The messages are routed through the firewall to ensure that they are not fraudulent or suspicious in nature. The firewall automatically blocks the messages that are not compliant and protects customers from receiving them. It saves the operators’ reputation and overhead costs and also ensures safe SMS delivery to customers.

Conclusion

Some challenges, such as the recent TRAI regulation, may not be within the operator’s control. Over 600 million messages did not reach the customers because it required operators to register their entity, SMS header, and content template, leading to several technical glitches. However, solutions such as reliable routing, content scrubbing, firewall solutions, etc., are within the operator’s control. They can use these solutions to deliver A2P messages on time. It will help in building trust with enterprises. To ensure smooth delivery of A2P SMS, operators must partner with a telecom solution provider with the right expertise and experience in SMS delivery.

Globe Teleservices provides mobile network operators with powerful solutions for enabling high-quality A2P SMS delivery. We offer API connect for A2P messages, direct interconnection with more than 100+ carriers, and leading operators and direct SMS termination in 35+ countries globally. Operators can also leverage our high-quality direct routes to send A2P messages to end customers and prevent further revenue leakage.

Telecommunication networks have become an integral part of major national operations. Apart from the evergreen popularity of Voice and Messaging, we now have a new national obsession; data! As of 2021, about 60% of the world’s population (4.66 billion) actively uses the internet. Of course, the criticality of the telecom network and the high disruptive potential raises the stakes. There is a risk of potential misuse or disruption and that can be a major threat to the national security of any country. So, it won’t be an understatement to say that telecom networks now hold utmost importance in national security.

In light of such fears, many nations have implemented changes with immediate effect to ensure network safety. For example, many countries (including India) have imposed a ban on the use of China-manufactured products and applications. The National Security Directive on Telecommunication Sector (NSDTS) of the Indian government has also banned the use of any unauthorized telecom networks. But the nature of security threats continues to evolve and so must the security stance.

One key element of the security stance is the growing focus on country gateways. Think, for instance, what would happen if a rogue actor created malware that flooded the data network of a major telecom carrier in an emerging country? Genuine users would face problems with using their data networks, business operations that relied on the internet would grind to a halt, and critical functions like remote education and telemedicine would get crippled. This could prove devastating. That apart, there are deep-rooted challenges to address. For instance, SS7 and Diameter signaling protocols in telecommunication can pose a potential threat to the banking system if hacked. Countries across the globe are therefore looking at building a secured country gateway for telecommunication networks.

In this article, we will discuss why a country gateway is crucial to ensure cybersecurity in the country. We will also highlight the key features offered by country gateways to support the argument. But before getting into the details, let’s understand what a country gateway is.

What is a country gateway?

A country gateway acts as a robust barrier that enables secured networking for data transmission across countries. It establishes a set of administrative procedures which are mutually accepted by interacting networks. In telecommunications, the country gateway regulates the incoming and outgoing data from one discrete network inside the boundary to those outside.

It serves as a checkpoint where all the data is screened for any malicious activity. This helps protect the data from potential breaches and cyber threats. It also avoids any unauthorized traffic in the network.

The country gateway usually follows more than one protocol to connect multiple networks. This provides multilayered protection against malware. These gateways are usually automated and are capable of decision-making, based on a defined set of rules. This advantage provides an edge to a country gateway over a conventional firewall.

How does a country gateway provide security?

A country gateway serves as an entry and exit point into a secured network. So, whenever data is received, it first goes through the gateway. The gateway ensures that the incoming information does not violate any of the nation’s security policies. If no issue or malware is detected, the country gateway then decides the routing path of these data packets. The gateway works for outgoing information or requests similarly. This way the country gateway acts as a firewall to avoid any unauthorized or unwanted actions.

A country gateway can either be hardware, software (cloud-based), or a combination of both. Of late, cloud-based gateways seem to be providing more flexibility with remote networks.

Why is a country gateway essential to security?

With advancements in technology, cybercriminals have also grown sophisticated. It has become difficult to differentiate genuine data from malware. As digitalization has spiked exponentially, the establishment of a secured country gateway has become essential to prevent malicious data from entering the safe system and crippling it. Let’s discuss the key features of a country gateway that makes it ideal for security:

1. Malware scan and control: Country gateways do not allow any viruses or malware to corrupt an operating network. The gateway scans all the data that passes through and matches it to existing or known malware. Some gateways also run the code of suspected malware in a controlled environment to see how it behaves; also known as sandboxing. This helps in detecting hidden threats. So, if any malware is detected, the gateway blocks it right away.
2. Decryption: Most of the internet traffic is now encrypted by HTTPS which makes it difficult to identify a threat. Many gateways can decrypt HTTPS to search for malware. After scanning, if the network is found safe, the gateway re-encrypts it and forwards it to the recipient. In addition, country gateways can also translate one data format to another. This helps in smooth networking without compromising the integrity of the information transferred.
3. URL filter: Although HTTPS is the standard protocol for most IT operations, still some of the networks support HTTP and FTP protocols. The country gateway scans all types of internet protocols and allows only the approved traffic to connect. These lists are maintained as a part of the national security policies. So, any network that is not in compliance with the approved list gets blocked by the gateway. Furthermore, the gateway can also block individual data packets within a network. This is called content filtering. The policies for content filtering are usually customized based on the requirements.
4. Data loss prevention (DLP): A secured country gateway also protects sensitive information such as confidential documents from flowing out of a network. This means that a gateway will not allow any intellectual property or data to leave a system without approval. This process is called exfiltration. For example, if an application requires documents to be uploaded, the data in those documents will be screened for confidential information. It will be approved only if it does not violate any of the security policies. This way DLP protects the crucial data against cybercrimes such as hacking.
5. Application control: This function enables the country gateway to control the applications used by any citizen. With the increasing popularity of social media apps, the risks involved are also growing sharply. The country gateway can therefore be used to regulate resources that an application can access.
6. Cross-layer function: The country gateway provides cross-layer services which aim to improve the CIA triad (confidentiality, integrity, and availability) of transmitted data. A cross-layer function also enables the country gateway to interoperate between all seven layers of data transmission, as proposed in the open systems interconnections (OSI) model. This makes the country gateway a one-stop solution for all security concerns.

How to choose a secured country gateway?

Choosing a country gateway is a crucial decision. As it deals with highly confidential data, it can compromise a nation’s economy if mishandled or leaked. The chosen country gateway should also provide high-risk management. It should be able to detect early threats such as state or non-state hacks and take immediate actions.

Although most gateways are customized based on the requirement, it is important to search for a flexible solution provider who understands the world of telecom, is an expert at the security aspects, and has a clear focus on new and emerging technologies like AI and ML.

Conclusion

Currently, digitalization and cyber threats are progressing hand-in-hand. Hence, it’s important to deploy country gateways to enhance security. The right gateway provides a nation robust security and a clear vision for the future. This helps the country gateway be ready to respond at speed with an automated call of action in case of any breach; today and tomorrow.

Globe Teleservices offers a comprehensive suite of solutions designed specifically to meet all the requirements of the global telecom industry. If you need any help with the gateways, you can reach out to us at www.globeteleservices.com.

Until a few years back, blockchain was only discussed in relation to payments…that too, primarily in the context of Bitcoin. To be fair, that’s how blockchain started. Over the years, the number of non-financial use-cases of bitcoin has been on an accelerated rise. Today, this technology is gaining traction in the telecom sector as technologies such as IoT and 5G start coming into this space.

Blockchain is a distributed digital ledger that enables information to be recorded in a shared database. This technology has been gaining traction owing to the rise of the digital economy and the promise of potentially transforming industries such as telecom and help them succeed in an environment of heightened competition using blockchain-powered applications.

Telecom in 2021 – how things stand

The way the telecom industry connects people has evolved but not changed considerably. Sure, SIM cards have become smaller and now we transmit audio, video, and text over the internet in different ways. Despite this, the core telephone logic based on SIM cards continues to be the same as when they were developed in 1991.

In all of this, what has undergone a complete transformation is the way we treat data.

The speed of transfer has increased phenomenally over the years. This trend will continue with the advent of 5G technology. With 5G comes the promise of low latency, higher volumes of data transfer, and a huge network of interconnected devices. This will also drive the accelerated proliferation of IoT devices and applications and allow us to achieve a variety of previously unimaginable use cases.

Whenever a new technology or capability emerges, the associated vertical sectors decide how, when, and where to leverage its capabilities. IoT technology use, for example, will become increasingly more talked about in the telecom sector as 5G networks mature. The hope is, new opportunities will emerge for operators to offer innovative products and services such as built-to-purpose consumer applications, wide-area IoT network solution, and IoT managed services.

It can be used for remote system monitoring and asset management, be a part of cloud migration strategies, or as an avenue to open up new revenue streams by providing edge computing infrastructure for over the top (OTT) service providers and application developers. CSP’s can use IoT to drive software-defined networking and network function visualization as well.

Both 5G and IoT see a lot of data moving across the network. And it is the capability to use this data appropriately and ingenuously that will help the telecom industry solve existing pain points and become future-ready.

Adapt Business Support Systems for the digital era

Telecom companies need to adapt their BSS for the digital era. They need to capably support the demanding and digitally native customer who wants a consistent and personalized experience delivered instantly. Of course, they must do so while considering all dimensions of the engagement lifecycle. Additionally, there is the challenge of addressing under-pressure traditional revenue sources, caused by the decline of voice services, data commoditization, and pressure from over-the-top (OTT) players.

To drive up profitability, telecom companies need to capably monetize all that 5G enables today and what it can tomorrow. Apart from connectivity to new applications and services, and to drive efficiencies such as Network slicing, private networks, partnerships, and IoT, BSS has to be more agile and secure.

Blockchain can help BSS become digital-era ready and help these internal systems become more collaborative and enable use cases that allow CSPs to eliminate intermediaries in inter-carrier settlements, prevent fraud during roaming and mobile number portability processes.

Fraud prevention

When there is IoT there is data. Unfortunately, where there is data, there is potential for fraud. Deloitte calculates the annual fraud costs for telcos at USD 40 billion.

Network security can be a challenge with the growing proliferation of IoT devices. With blockchain, every element in the IoT environment gets assigned with a unique identity that can be replicated across elements thereby making it harder to access by a third party.

Even if the network is compromised, blockchain manages to put in additional layer security that prevents attackers from using fraudulent ID within the system.

Drive compliance

Telecom operators have to enable technologies such as IoT and drive high connectivity. However, maintaining compliance with relevant laws and maintaining data and security regulations can be a challenge especially when there is a need for the international transfer of personal data.

CSP’s have to maintain compliance and can do so easily with a permissioned ledger system that the controlling party can leverage and place restrictions to prevent nodes from joining the network in certain locations. They can also use this ledger to ensure that the appropriate measures are in place with participants outside the region to ensure compliance

Overcome viability issues of IoT with Blockchain

Blockchain also makes IoT more viable and secure. Using blockchain, CSPs can provide highly secure peer-to-peer self-managed mesh networks employing a large number of nodes. Each of these nodes can be represented by single embedded IoT sensors and can verify every block within the blockchain.

Initially, they can create private networks with relatively low investment and then set up public networks once these are established thereby driving seamless connectivity and security. This is an essential consideration point especially with the growing interest in smart cities that run on IoT devices.

Improve digital asset transactions

CSP’s can use blockchain to implement micropayment-based business models for digital assets such as gift cards, loyalty points, purchase of music, mobile games, OTT, etc. This can drive revenues for CSPs by helping them enable the user and drive monetary transfer services, help them lower transaction costs, and also increase the speed of processing as compared to cash or debit/credit cards or cheques.

Enable smart contracting

CSP’s can capably automate their internal processes using blockchain and make processes such as billing, roaming, and supply chain management more streamlined, transparent, efficient, and error-free. Blockchain can automate the contracting process and eliminate the need for present transactions to undergo a clearinghouse to get approved.

Smart contracts enabled by blockchain guarantee the settlement between the participants and increases transparency to the end customer by routing the settlement from one operator’s Blockchain to another operator.

So, for example, when a subscriber on roaming dials out of the phone network this entire transaction (from the time the call connects up to its end) gets logged and saved on the blockchain network. The smart contract rule defines the charges and accordingly registers the payment. The complete transparency of this process ensures transaction integrity.

Our verdict is that IoT and blockchain will influence the telecom sector considerably. With leading telecom providers such as AT&T, Airtel, Deutsche Telecom, and more exploring blockchain and the maturing of IoT, we can expect faster adoption and deployment of blockchain to bring in the future of telecom. Is your telecom enterprise ready for blockchain?

A connected world has emerged from the stories of science-fiction to become reality today.

Thanks to the Internet of Things (IoT), we are opening the garage, adjusting the light and temperature at home even before reaching, measuring vital health parameters and alerting the doctors in case of an issue, and automatically alerting the grocery store for a refill of eggs before our stock runs out.

But the power of IoT stands to be further boosted with the coming of 5G.

Several studies have proved that the introduction of 5G will enable emerging technologies such as IoT to become a part of everyone’s life. It will not just lead to faster downloads, but will also play a crucial role in managing critical situations remotely, such as controlling heavy machinery to save a worker’s life or performing remote surgeries.

The two combined together could become a game-changer across several industries ranging from manufacturing, automotive, home appliances to healthcare. According to Gartner, 59% of companies are planning to use 5G to support IoT across their business.

It opens the door to several opportunities. But as with every technology, there are pros and cons to consider.

Let’s understand in detail the opportunities and the threats associated with IoT in the age of 5G.

Opportunities And Threats Of Using IoT With 5G

Opportunities

Faster data speed: The success of IoT is dependent on ready connectivity. Its performance is reliant upon how fast IoT devices, smartphones, etc. can communicate and transfer data with business applications and platforms. 5G could be 10 times faster than the current network speed. This means that IoT devices will be able to transfer data faster than before. There will be a significant improvement in how devices send and receive data. In industries such as healthcare and critical applications such as autonomous vehicles, faster data speed is crucial to save lives and get work done efficiently.

Low latency: An important characteristic of 5G is the low latency. Imagine a surgeon giving instructions to a team of doctors from a remote location while performing a surgery. Latency introduces lags, lags could cause a communication breakdown, and that could be a potential threat to the patient’s life. In an array of applications, data latency can prove to be disastrous. In others, like Augmented Reality apps or Gaming, latency could be a fundamental detriment to the app experience and usability. 5G is based on the foundation of ultra-reliable low latency communication (URLLC). It can process a large volume of data in real-time, which enables IoT devices to respond faster and avoid transmission delay. Industries and people can function efficiently without any disruption. For example, hospitals can now replace wired connections with low latency wireless 5G connections during surgery.

Better network stability: Imagine if a smart city that runs on connected devices faces connectivity issues. There will be complete mayhem in the city with control lost over critical functions such as traffic management. Network stability is not just a good-to-have feature; it is a must-have in many IoT use-cases. 5G offers a stable network and better coverage than other networks. Its stability is the primary reason behind the low latency. This is perfect for IoT devices that rely on a stable network to transfer real-time data to get tasks completed. It can improve the performance of IoT devices, and consumers will also benefit from it.

Threats

Security challenges: Although 5G has built-in security systems and encryptions that make it stronger, cyber experts believe that it could still be vulnerable to cyberattacks. One challenge is that security standards and protocols are still in the early stages of being widely understood and accepted. An AT&T cybersecurity study revealed that 39% of respondents are worried about the security of the connected devices in the network. They worry that connected devices could expose them to larger security threats. According to a 2019 Brookings report, this is because the network has moved from centralized; hardware-based switching to software-based, distributed routing. Hackers could gain control over the software managing the network and attack it. This eventually would make IoT devices vulnerable to attacks.

Privacy challenges: In our last blog, we discussed the challenges that are holding up the 5G wave. One of them we discussed was about privacy challenges. Consumer privacy could be compromised due to semantic information attacks, timing attacks, and boundary attacks that hit the subscriber’s location privacy. There is also a potential threat to the consumer’s data and identity. Considering how consumers take their data privacy seriously and as connected devices rely the most on data, such threats to privacy could discourage people from using IoT devices with a 5G network.

Other potential risks to mission-critical devices: As IoT’s market grows; the scope for security threat also increases. Innovative threats could emerge that don’t exist today. Recently, the FDA recalled half a million pacemakers because they were vulnerable to attacks. With more IoT devices getting connected to 5G networks, there is an increasing scope for hackers to attack the devices. They could manipulate the devices and create irreversible damage if not monitored and controlled periodically.

Conclusion

According to Statista, the number of IoT devices will rise to74 billionby 2025. While there are worries of security threats in using IoT devices with 5G, one cannot ignore the impact it will have on people and industries. IoT seems to be made for 5G. Both can come together to deliver innovative solutions across industries and for society.

What’s required is a combined effort by Mobile Network Operators (MNO) and companies that build IoT devices and solutions. Such a considered partnership can develop a shared security model where the company can take responsibility for the IoT devices, and the MNO looks after managing the network infrastructure and ensuring that it meets the 3GPP framework. This way, people and industries can use IoT devices freely without the fear of cyberattacks to unlock the potential.

The telecom industry has witnessed rapid development in recent years. It has ushered in a global era of connectivity. Whether it is the IoT, 5G, or Application-to-Person (A2P) messaging, the telecom industry has been responsible for simplifying communication and making it faster. The transition to wireless connectivity, implementation of 5G, and increased usage of IoT devices are just a few of the several advancements made by the industry in recent years. It’s fair to call the telecom sector the backbone of life and business worldwide.

No wonder the global telecom services market size was $1657 billion in 2020 and is expected to grow at a CAGR of 5.4% between 2021 and 2028.

However, the rapid transformation and innovation have also led to rising security concerns such as cyber risks, revenue leakage, and even espionage or security compromises in the industry.

What Are The Security Concerns That Worry The Telecom Industry?

Revenue losses

Telecom fraud is one of the leading reasons for revenue losses in the industry. According to a joint report published by Europol’s European Cybercrime Center and Trend Micro, telecom frauds lead to a revenue loss of $32.7 billion. This has negatively impacted operator revenue margins across the board. As telecom networks expand and more data gets exchanged through connected devices and users, telecom operators will have to find ways to counter these issues. Although new offerings such as 5G and IoT are laying the ground for ever more sophisticated ways to secure the network, hackers always find a way to breach the system and impact operations. Telecom operators must continuously audit their security framework and processes and establish ways to eliminate frauds and prevent revenue losses.

Data breaches

Recently, the telecom giant T-Mobile reported a security incident that compromised the data of 200,000 customers. A similar incident occurred early last year when Japan’s telecom company Nippon Telegraph & Telephone (NTT) reported that the data of 621 customers from one of their subsidiaries were stolen. The hackers had hacked the multiple security layers of their IT infrastructure to steal the data. Data breaches have become one of the common concerns for telecom operators. A 2020 Global Threat Intelligence Report stated that hackers have been using IoT devices as a common entry point for cyber-attacks. As more businesses and individuals continue to work from home, edge points grow and so does the vulnerability. Telecom operators will have to build robust security architecture to reduce data breaches. They must incorporate data encryption, tokenization, authorized access, and firewalls to safeguard their network infrastructure and prevent data breaches.

System outages

Unplanned network downtime can cost telecom operators $15 billion per year. Of course, it’s bad for the users too. Businesses and individuals are dependent on good internet and telephone connectivity for day-to-day operations. Hence, unplanned downtime impacts their work and affects the operator’s bottom line revenue. If severe outages occur frequently, the telecom operator will risk losing their reputation and customers. While there are many reasons behind unplanned system outages, one of the major causes is a system upgrade. The operators are unable to reconnect the network after an upgrade or change in infrastructure. Other reasons include – routing problems, network congestions, and operational error. Taking proactive measures, communicating any upcoming outages, and anticipating and solving the issue within the decided SLA are ways to counter these issues.

Malicious attacks

Recently, India recorded an 845% increase in cyber-attacks between October 2020 and March 2021. According to Check Point Software, 93% of such attacks occur because the users are lured into installing malicious apps, which compromises the enterprises’ network security. Weak network infrastructure has led to an increase in ransomware incidents. Social engineering, DDoS attacks are some other kinds of attacks that operators are witnessing right now. Auditing the network infrastructure regularly and fixing vulnerabilities will enable operators to safeguard the infrastructure from malicious attacks. Resilient infrastructure is the only way forward for telecom operators. It’s also time that operators build a security-focused culture within their organization and take proactive measures to prevent malicious attacks.

Privacy issues

Ever since the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) has come into existence, enterprises have become conscious of data privacy threats. The onus now lies with telecom operators to protect the subscribers’ privacy. In its whitepaper, Ericsson recommended that the first step towards safeguarding the privacy of subscribers is to include privacy at every stage of the product or service development and in operations. This will enable the operators to proactively protect the subscribers’ privacy rather than taking remedial actions. They need to embed privacy controls within the processes to give subscribers the confidence that their data is fully protected and aligned with the regulations.

Conclusion

As the industry advances, the incidents of security threats will keep increasing. Hence, there is no better time than now for telecom operators to find ways to combat the rising security concerns. Operators can use SMS and voice firewall solutions to safeguard the network from threats and vulnerabilities. They can also invest in fraud detection and security solutions such as access and identity management, content filtering, and perimeter protection to protect the networks from threats.

At Globe Teleservices, we offer end-to-end network security solutions to telecom operators. We offer:

• Gateway solutions with fraud management that detect and block frauds entering the network
• SMS firewalls to block illegal SMS traffic
• Direct routing that prevents A2P SMS grey routing
• Protection from SMS spamming, flooding, spoofing, phishing, and viruses

To know more about our security solutions, contact us.

Blockchain promises the potential to disrupt or transform business models in almost every industry. In the telecom sector, in particular, blockchain can provide unprecedented support for the required infrastructure and connectivity for voice, data, media, and other related services. Data exchange between networks calls for an extremely high level of data security, integrity, and inspection. That being the case, blockchain can help in ensuring the right levels of security and protection.

The ongoing buzz around blockchain

As a shared ledger that gets replicated across stakeholders in a network, blockchain enables companies to maintain the complete history of all transactions that happen between two or more parties. Since these transaction records are immutable, they can never be tampered with. Such immutability paves the way for increased security, transparency, and control for every transaction across the ecosystem while reducing the number of unnecessary intermediaries.

Offering distributed digital ledgers that are updated in near real-time, blockchain delivers chronologically placed, time-stamped, irreversible, and auditable processes while bringing down the number of third parties involved in any transaction. Through decentralized storage, a high level of robustness, and unmatched trust and confidentiality, blockchain is helping organizations across various industries:

• Enable greater transparency into transactions
• Improve the quality and speed of payments
• Enhance traceability of operations
• Improve accountability and integrity
• Enable high levels of encryption and security

How telecom companies can benefit

For the telecom sector, blockchain could be a real game-changer. Analysts expect the blockchain telecom market to reach $677.66 million by 2025, growing at a CAGR of 28.3% during the forecast period. This growth will primarily be driven by the increasing adoption of 5G, which could become a catalyst for widespread blockchain implementation.

• Fraud detection and prevention: Although developments in 5G are changing the face of the telecom sector, enabling faster and high-quality communications between users, it is also paving the way for increased instances of telecom fraud, which can cost the world $32.7 billion Blockchain sets the foundation for effective and timely fraud detection (and prevention) for telecom service providers – especially with a focus on roaming users. By bringing down fraud detection and resolution time, blockchain verifies the authenticity of every transaction in the network, helps in calculating the exact billing amount based on the services rendered, and enables instantaneous verification via smart contract terms.
• Simplified processes: Telecom operators often struggle with streamlining roaming processes, with issue resolution timelines sometimes shooting up to several weeks. Blockchain allows telecom companies to simplify these processes via real-time monitoring. Using blockchain, they can set thresholds to easily identify issues or breaches, plan for their resolution, and also bring down the time and costs of disputes.
• Enhanced authentication: Blockchain also allows telecom operators to set up high levels of identity and authentication mechanisms to prevent subscriber identity fraud and associated data breaches. By encrypting identities via secure sign-ups and logins, the technology can instantly detect false stolen or missed identities as well as attempts at data manipulation – thus allowing telecom operators to safeguard the authenticity of digital transactions.
• Increased transparency: Another appealing aspect of blockchain technology is the degree of transparency it brings. The traceability of information means no transaction or service can be unduly modified. The level of transparency that blockchain brings adds a degree of accountability, allowing telecom companies to safeguard privacy and control over data, whilst increasing transparency and efficiencies in transactions.
• Improved collaboration: Given the number of business transactions that now happen in the telecom ecosystem, blockchain enables interested parties to come together as part of a larger consortium. Through frequent communication between these stakeholders, blockchain ensures high-quality connectivity, service, and customer experience is provided along with required trust, security, and transparency.

Points to note

As a growing telecom company, if you are looking to boost operational efficiencies, embracing blockchain can help your strategies a great deal. Through streamlined collaboration and simplified processes, it can allow you to enable effective and timely fraud detection and prevention, ensuring all communication and transactions that happen in the telecom ecosystem are transparent, efficient, secure, and protected.

However, when opting for blockchain,

• Carry out a detailed cost-benefit analysis to determine how blockchain will boost your business outcomes and what roadblocks you can expect on the way there.
• Be aware of the different blockchain technologies, their maturity levels, as well as their significance in the context of your particular use case.
• Identify the areas of your business that will benefit the most from blockchain adoption: identity management, smart contracts, secure transactions, data usage tracking, or others
• Make sure the blockchain technology you choose supports the type and kind of data (and customers) you deal with
• Review required legal frameworks and compliance requirements before embracing the technology
• Ensure that the technology you opt for allows you to improve the security and authenticity of transactions

With the right approach, the right tools, and the right implementation, you can leverage blockchain to improve the immutability of telecom transactions, improve transparency and visibility of operations, paving the way for secure and smart contracts, and enjoy long-term business value.

Business messaging is core to any organization’s communication suite as it allows them to interact with customers instantly. Although SMS has long been a popular option that allows businesses to instantly reach out to customers, for sustained business growth, engaging customers via voice and A2P messaging has become extremely important. With a read rate of 97% within 15 minutes of being delivered, A2P messaging has become one of the most preferred mediums for business communication.

It not only allows businesses to deliver order information, marketing campaigns, or other customer services quickly and effectively; it also allows for automation of text messaging for appointment reminders, two-factor authentication, bank alerts, one-time passwords, and more. And it does all that while supporting multi-channel conversations and personalization of marketing outreach campaigns.

A peek into the voice and A2P messaging business

The constant evolution of the business to customer messaging ecosystem and the need for automation has spurred significant innovation in the voice and A2P messaging sectors. The global A2P messaging market is expected to grow at a CAGR of 3.2% from $62.1 billion in 2020 to $72.8 billion by 2025, exhibiting profitable growth in the next five years.

If we talk about Africa, the pandemic led to millions of citizens relying on mobile services for day-to-day living: right from audio and video conferencing to meal delivery, mobile payments, e-commerce transactions, and more. As more and more money and efforts are put towards modernizing telecom networks, establishing broadband connections, and improving cloud penetration, several world-class telecom providers are now engaging with voice and A2P messaging to optimize their communication with customers while assuring speed and accuracy of message delivery with direct routing.

The unmatched benefits of A2P messaging for businesses

As traditional SMS remains the default mobile-specific service that companies use to communicate with customers, A2P messaging has been gaining immense popularity. As customers have more choice than ever to engage with the business of their choice, A2P messaging allows businesses to:

• Keep up with the increasingly digital outlook of modern customers
• Automate the customer communication process and achieve faster turnaround
• Reach out to customers for a variety of purposes including authorization, authentication, product updates as well as order notifications, reminders, coupons, vouchers, and loyalty programs
• Provide unmatched marketing information as well as 24×7 customer service
• Meet consumer expectations around enterprise responsiveness
• Ensure fast delivery of critical messages via low latency and high throughput rates
• Achieve high levels of customer engagement in a time- and cost-effective manner
• Personalize communication and deliver tailored customer experiences

Factors that will define the A2P market in the coming years

With so many benefits, companies in Africa are increasing their adoption of A2P messaging to reach out to their target audience and engage with them in a reliable, fast, and secure way. Here’s looking at how the A2P messaging market will move in the African subcontinent and the changes that are expected in the coming years:

1. The segment will continue to balloon: The coming 5 years will see an increase in A2P messaging traffic, driven by the need to offer critical and timely information to customers including banking and transaction-related details, product and service-related information, alerts, and reminders, and more. Although a lot of businesses are already relying on A2P messaging, the ability of organizations to promote and market their products and services to attract and engage with new customers will see these adoption numbers increase.
2. SPAM checks will be common: The constant inflow of business messages also brings it with the challenge of SPAM. To keep this under control, organizations would need to have a common set of procedures that will allow them to manage unwanted, unexpected junk messages. Since scammers are increasingly sending fake messages to trick customers into sending personal information, businesses would need to invest in the right tools to curb the growing instances of phishing, malware, hacking, and fraud.
3. Identifying unauthorized gray routes will become critical: Businesses will also have to be adept at identifying unauthorized gray routes that are increasingly being used to deliver international A2P traffic into mobile networks. Although the routes themselves might be legal, the parties using them or the traffic on these routes might not be authorized. To control loss of revenue through these unauthorized gray routes, organizations will have to rely on technologies like SS7 and IP filtering to analyze the authenticity of messages in real-time and take appropriate action, if required.
4. Cloud and on-premise deployments will witness equal traction: Although cloud-based models will gain immense popularity in the coming years, on-premise deployments will continue to record high growth too. This will be done by organizations who want to install the platform on their own – without depending on the service provided by a cloud provider – and enjoy additional control and flexibility with their deployments.
5. New technology initiatives will continue to penetrate the industry: New technology initiatives like 5G will radically change how businesses communicate and engage with customers. From improved voice quality to faster communication speed, reduced drop rates to better SPAM management – 5G will allow organizations users to rely on faster and more secure connections. At the same time, technologies like AI and ML will allow for enhanced personalization of communications, enabling businesses to rely on smart bots and assistants to help with scheduling messages and sending reminders and pave the way for intelligent routing options.

As the need to connect with customers increases, voice and A2P adoption is growing across the world. If you are looking to set up A2P messaging for your business, we can help! Using our SMS Gateway & SMSC that has been deployed in the US, we can provide the required APIs for A2P transactional or bulk SMS campaigns. We have a very strong focus on Africa, with prestigious exclusive contracts with some of the fastest-growing nations in the region. What’s more, our direct interconnection with more than 100+ carriers and leading operators enables us to rely on high-quality routes based on various requirements of the market, so you can deliver seamless experiences to your customers anytime, anywhere.