“With great power comes great responsibility” – Uncle Ben to Peter Parker (aka Spider-Man)
Spider-Man and telecommunications may not be as unrelated as you might think – especially in the case of cellular networks. Let us explain…
In the Marvel comic book series Spider-Man, high school student Peter Parker is bitten by an irradiated spider during a visit to a public science exhibit. The venom from the bite empowers the boy with incredible arachnid-like strength and agility, which he’s not certain how to put to use. But when a burglar kills Peter’s beloved Uncle Ben, Peter – now Spider-Man – vows to use his powers to protect his fellow man, spurred on by these words from his uncle…”
with great power comes great responsibility.”
These same words can be applied to the current state of cellular networks. “Exactly HOW?,” you may be scratching your head and asking yourself. But bear with us here, please.
You see, there’s a growing concern among cellular operators today. As cellular networks have evolved, they’ve grown increasingly susceptible to threats and attacks. And as these networks are now relying more and more on IP technology, the means to harm them are growing as well.
So just as when Uncle Ben said to Peter, “with great power comes great responsibility,” cellular operators too must realize that they’ve given IP a great power, but by doing so the great responsibility of protecting their networks has become more essential than ever before.
We hope this post has piqued your interest and you’ll join us for a series of related blog posts on ‘securing the haul.’ Here, we’ll explore topics including:
• New threats to new technologies – masquerading, eavesdropping, subscription fraud and more
• Existing solutions – are authentication, encryption and firewalls adequate for the cellular world?
• A new paradigm – why the backhaul must be viewed as one of the more susceptible places to threats
• New solutions – the rationale for adopting unified threat management (UTM) into LTE/3GPP architecture
Until next time,