Intelligent CIO Africa Issue 43 | Page 68

t cht lk As 5G networks expand, so does the explosive growth in network traffic, connected devices and mission-critical IoT use cases. This will impact network security and reliability more than ever before. The report supported this view, with 99% respondents expecting 5G networks will increase security and reliability concerns and 93% have or may change security investments in light of 5G. To address this challenge, service providers need highly cost-efficient security solutions that offer flexibility, scalability and protection as they evolve their networks to 5G and integrate cloud and Edge capabilities. This means a comprehensive security stack at service provider scale with other functions most needed in mobile networks, including a firewall for all network peering points, deep packet inspection “ AS 5G NETWORKS EXPAND, SO DOES THE EXPLOSIVE GROWTH IN NETWORK TRAFFIC, CONNECTED DEVICES AND MISSION- CRITICAL IOT USE CASES. (DPI), carrier-grade network address translation (CGNAT) and IPv6 migration, integrated distributed denial of service (DDoS) threat protection, intelligent traffic steering and analytics. Below is a blueprint of five of the key solutions required for a successful migration to 5G: 1. Gi-LAN Security – Gi/SGi Firewall Significant threats to mobile subscribers and networks come through the Internet interface – the Gi/SGi. As traffic volume, devices and cybercriminal expertise increases, so do these threats. An integrated Gi/SGi firewall protects infrastructure and subscribers and delivers the performance that mobile carriers require. The Gi/SGi firewall solution meets both current and future traffic requirements for any service provider. This comprehensive and consolidated approach provides best-inclass performance, efficiency and scale to protect the mobile infrastructure while reducing OPEX and CAPEX costs. Service providers can also use a Gi/SGi firewall solution in a virtual form factor to gain a flexible, easy-to-deploy and on-demand, software-based deployment. Mohammed Al-Moneer, Regional Vice President of Sales – MENA at A10 Networks 2. Mobile Roaming Security – GTP Firewall The GTP protocol used in the roaming and other EPC interfaces has known vulnerabilities that can be readily exploited by malicious actors. Operators must meet the growing security challenges while also providing a seamless subscriber experience – wherever they travel, whatever devices they use, and whatever network is accessed. A GTP firewall provides extensive capabilities including stateful inspection, rate limiting, and filtering of traffic for protocol abnormalities, invalid messages, and other suspicious indicators. It protects against GTP protocol vulnerabilities such as fraudulent use, confidentiality breaches, DDoS attacks by malicious peers and other threats. A GTP firewall can be inserted into multiple interfaces carrying the GTP traffic. In the primary use case, it is inserted on S5-Gn and S8-Gp (roaming) interfaces. The 68 INTELLIGENTCIO www.intelligentcio.com