Network Integrity

Protecting your Infrastructure Investment

Broadband providers invest heavily in their networks, enabling subscribers to benefit from the promises of the Internet. Media streaming, rich and interactive communication, online gaming, content acquisition and distribution – these services are all delivered over today’s networks. Subscribers have embraced these applications and are increasingly reliant on them as valued components of daily life.

A minority of Internet users have found other ways in which to put the network to work: launching debilitating attacks at networks and specific targets, delivering billions of unwanted e-mails, hijacking the computers of other subscribers – these are only a few examples of the malicious uses of broadband networks.

The cost of this misuse is staggering, both in terms of money and the human impact. Service providers, especially, are faced with the financial burdens created by malicious use of their network resources, including:

• Support calls resulting from symptoms of infection and attack
• Addressing complications arising from e-mail and IP blacklisting, major contributors to subscriber churn
• Operational expenses to protect and restore network services
• Campaigns to contact and educate infected subscribers

Each of these cost centers could be significantly reduced by introducing a layer of intelligence in the network to recognize and respond to threats as they appear in real-time, and to specifically contact only those subscribers who are infected with or impacted by malicious activities.

Many network operators are familiar with defenses such as firewalls, intrusion prevention systems, and anti-virus software, all of which are important elements in an over-all strategy of preserving network integrity; however, none of these technologies is designed to specifically address security issues and the requirement for immediate response facing today’s service providers at the scale of modern networks.

Sandvine’s Network Protection product is different. By working exclusively with Internet service providers to understand the security issues they face, Sandvine has designed a security product that is ideally suited to identifying and mitigating the unique set of threats that exist on broadband networks.