11 February 2016 – Adax, an industry leader in high-performance signaling and packet-processing infrastructure, has released a new addition to its SCTP product which delivers secure authentication with high performance and network visibility. This is in light of the fact hackers are exploiting vulnerabilities in SS7 networks which enable them to breach and hi-jack the connection, which is a serious concern for operators.
Whilst RFC 4895 has been available for some time, its implementation is now vital as networks are subject to attacks with greater frequency and demonstrated disastrous outcomes. Application vendors unknowingly allow the network to be compromised by seemingly ‘secure VPNs’ which imperceptibly transport threats within packets. Even when networks are secure, heavy-weight solutions limit network scalability when expansion is demanded to increase revenues. SCTP/T addresses these concerns and can be implemented without compromising performance or network monitoring visibility, unlike IPsec/VPNs.
The Adax SCTP/T product provides the capabilities to address the issues necessary for secure, reliable and effective signaling for IP voice and data networks. Built to meet the demands of today’s LTE, IMS, Diameter and SIGTRAN standards, Adax SCTP/T enables service providers to achieve signaling reliability by implementing signaling protocols and services that perform vigilant in-service quality monitoring of the signaling link, and detect degradation of link quality at short, programmable intervals.
The product can support up to 10,000 associations and enables protocol implementation in the OS kernel for accurate timer control and quick recovery. It also encompasses enhanced multi-homing provisioning options that implement link monitoring and fail-over robustness and redundancy for IP signaling, which rivals the quality of SS7 narrowband and broadband networks.
Robin Kent, director of European operations at Adax, says “Hi-jacking in the network is a serious threat that is becoming increasingly more prominent in the industry. SCTP/T achieves levels of signaling performance and capacity that are unsurpassed in the industry, and it has been designed to secure SCTP-based associations from packet injection, hijacking or accidental disconnection. This means we are confident that the product will meet the demands of LTE and IMS networks, and is ready to meet the challenges in today’s emerging networks, enabling growth and thwarting those with malicious intent.”