* VocalTec executive lends perspective on security issues in carrier networks
Following our recent review of concerns about PSTN security in a converged environment, we received a call from Ramesh Lakshmi-Ratan at VocalTec Communications.
Ramesh is the senior vice president of strategy at VocalTec, a vendor of packet voice products. He has many years of experience in the carrier market and some interesting insights about security.
He says:
“Security in the carrier networks is not just about hacking. It is more about business relationships. For example, do we or should we provide access about internal routing tables between private IP networks to the public networks? The CIO will certainly say no… because the CIO doesn’t want to expose that information to any external organization.
“The same model applies between carriers. In general, inter-carrier business is all about arbitrage, and because arbitrage permits and encourages dynamic routing, the information about the routes must be hidden to protect the carrier’s routing instructions. It about more than just network address translation.”
Observing another difference between TDM and VoIP-based PSTN security, Ramesh said, “In the TDM network, we have signaling point codes. Most kids in the dorm rooms don’t know how to hack SS7 point codes.”
However, he says, those kids know how to hack systems where IP addresses or Session Initiation Protocol are used.
Ramesh also commented on the business aspects of traffic management. He said, “While MPLS allows for monitoring of transmission, carriers won’t allow application-based bandwidth shaping on their network by another carrier.”
So while traffic management is technically possible between networks, “this becomes a business issue.”
To begin solving these issues, Ramesh believes “IP interconnection points must be controlled at the deepest levels of the protocol.”
We’ll continue our conversation with Ramesh next time.
