Telekom targets growth with security solutions

Dec 08, 2015

• Cyber attacks against industrial facilities and identity theft are increasing
• Behavioral analysis and honeypots are trending
• Dr. Ferri Abolhassan to head new "Telekom Security" segment

Cyber security will remain a megatrend in 2016 – affecting nearly every Internet user. Malware is increasingly distributed through advertising banners on popular web portals ("malvertising"). New phishing attacks and attacks on company infrastructure are launched every day. Deutsche Telekom's security experts expect these trends to continue in 2016.

According to their prognosis, attacks on networked devices and processes will continue to increase in intensity. In addition to ongoing attacks against industrial manufacturing infrastructure, new attack vectors aim at solutions such as smart door locks and fitness trackers. Security experts also warn of increases in identity theft and the increasing spread of malware through Office documents.

These growing threats are increasing the demands of cyber defense, which can be summarized in three major trends:

• The risks emanating from smartphones – which after all are small, mobile computers – are still vastly underestimated. In particular, vulnerabilities such as the "stagefright" exploit will continue to reveal the weaknesses inherent in a heterogeneous infrastructure with a multitude of hardware and software versions in the mobile domain. As such, functioning antivirus protection for mobile devices will continue to gain in importance.
• Behavior analysis and analysis of system states must be used more often, to identify attackers within a system more quickly, based on anomalous behavior or system states. Analysis tools are increasingly being used – from the consumer to the corporate level and from company network to home computer and smartphone.
• Companies are increasingly deploying honeypot systems in their networks, to attract and expose attackers explicitly. These approaches employ feigned vulnerabilities and fake datasets to attract attackers within a system and expose their activities.

Deutsche Telekom is providing answers to these growing challenges and founding a new organizational unit for security solutions, headed by Dr. Ferri Abolhassan, Managing Director of the IT Division at T-Systems . "The race between attackers and defenders is picking up speed," says Reinhard Clemens, CEO of T-Systems , about this strategic step.

"Many users, from private consumers to major industrial customers, struggle to keep up with the criminals. The development and, especially, implementation of new protection concepts often can't keep pace."

In future, the new unit will consolidate the security departments from the different Group units, enhancing Deutsche Telekom's efficiency and effectiveness in the market for cyber security solutions. At the same time, the Group plans to strengthen its internal security even further by capturing synergy effects.

"Deutsche Telekom has extensive expertise in cyber security and years of experience in product development and partnering. We are consolidating these skills with the aim of capturing a large share of this growing market. In future, we will give consumers, SMEs and corporate customers equal access to effective security solutions, from infrastructure to personal devices," says Dr. Ferri Abolhassan.