The crucial role of traffic reduction in enhancing cybersecurity solutions
In the bustling mobile broadband world, where user traffic is dominated by streaming services like Netflix, Amazon Prime, and YouTube, focusing on irrelevant data is a drain on resources. The challenges facing Communications Service Providers (CSPs) are not just about securing data but also managing and harnessing the immense volumes of information that define the digital era. Effective traffic reduction strategy goes beyond mere cost-cutting; it plays a pivotal role in minimizing the occurrence of false positive alarms, a persistent source of frustration over time.
Traditionally, cybersecurity solutions have been notorious for their resource-intensive analytics processes. Cubro challenges this norm by introducing an efficient and robust way to manage data without compromising resources. Our solution is engineered to handle massive traffic volumes, up to several Tbps, ensuring that even the most extensive networks remain fortified against cyber threats.
Cubro’s solution optimises cybersecurity by intelligently filtering out unnecessary traffic, allowing the tools to concentrate on what truly matters. Our innovative approach boasts a remarkable traffic reduction capability, typically by a factor of 500. This substantial decrease not only contributes to cost efficiency but also positions the solution as a highly effective tool for generating revenue in service provider use cases.
Filtering the Noise:
Most of the internet traffic, ranging from 70% to 80%, is generated by widely used streaming services, and in the majority of instances, these services do not present any security concerns. Cubro’s first stage of filtering targets these non-malicious activities, streamlining your cybersecurity efforts by removing unnecessary traffic to the tools and focusing on potential risks.
Fine-Tuned Traffic Management:
Even if defined applications’ traffic is removed, there is still a huge amount of bandwidth that can be daunting for cybersecurity applications. Cubro addresses this challenge by introducing a second filter stage through TCP/IP packet flow processing. Cubro forwards only the initial 10 to 15 packets to security tools, providing an efficient yet effective method for detecting malicious traffic and activities.
Precision in Packet Sampling:
Unlike other solutions sampling entire flows, Cubro’s approach ensures precision by sampling the initial packets of each flow. This targeted approach is crucial in optimizing resources and identifying potential threats more accurately.
Mapping Data for Comprehensive Security:
In a service provider network, relying solely on IP addresses is insufficient for unique subscriber identification. Cubro recognizes the importance of correlation and offers solutions tailored to mobile or fixed networks. By mapping signalling information to cybersecurity events in our Data Lake, we provide service providers with readily usable information, ensuring a comprehensive understanding of potential threats.
Here’s a detailed look at the journey of data within our innovative framework:
- Traffic comes from TAPs or already existing Network Packet Broker (NPB)
- Removal of tunnels (GTP), if needed
- Signalling traffic is directed to the Signaling probe. (Signaling probe provides metadata to perform mapping IP and subscriber sent to the data lake)
- A fraction of the traffic is sent to the DPI engine on Omnic. DPI engine extracts metadata for application filtering.
- NPB removes all non-relevant traffic and load balances the traffic to several Omnics where the TCP/IP flow sampling is conducted.
- Traffic is sent back to NPB for aggregation. The second load-balancing stage is to feed the cybersecurity tool.
- The cybersecurity tool processes the remaining traffic and sends metadata to the Cubro Data Lake.
- In the data lake, the signalling and the security metadata are correlated/mapped, and maybe enriched with other 3rd party data.
- This is the final usable data stream for the Service Provider
Summary
Cubro’s tailored solution includes application filtering for efficient traffic management that identifies and filters known, non-threatening traffic sources, minimizing unnecessary load on the monitoring tools. The second step is TCP Flow Optimisation with intelligent traffic reduction strategies, starting with sampling the first 15 packets of TCP flows.
Key Points Summary
- Traffic reduction is key to cybersecurity success.
- It not only cuts costs but also minimizes annoying false positive alarms.
- Cubro’s solution achieves a significant traffic reduction by a factor of 500, making it revenue-ready for service providers (SPs).
Cubro Cybersecurity solution addresses critical concerns and unlocks new revenue streams for CSPs by offering a comprehensive and compact security feed. CSPs are not only able to enhance subscriber experience but also create a sustainable and lucrative income source for your business.
Contact us to embark on a journey toward enhanced cybersecurity, increased revenue, and unparalleled customer satisfaction.