Developing a Trusted Security Strategy for China

Organizations in the Americas are increasingly looking to expand into China and tap into its vast growth opportunities. Yet to take advantage of this dynamic, fast-expanding market, they need to manage data securely and efficiently. That’s why firms are looking to China Telecom Americas (CTA) as their trusted partner: a provider that can offer peace of mind with cutting-edge threat protection via a comprehensive set of network security solutions.

We live in a digital world. Data is the lifeblood of any organization, and that’s no different for those looking to grow their business in China. But the sheer volume, variety and sophistication of online threats, network resilience challenges and business risk can present a significant barrier to growth and impair essential services, affecting brand reputation and ramping up the cost of doing business in the region. Average breach costs for global organizations rose to $4 million in 2016. That’s why a trusted partner is so important to secure mission-critical data and networks.

Adding to the problem for organizations operating internationally is that data must be shared extensively, often across both on-premises and cloud systems, and pushed out to multiple fixed and mobile endpoints, creating a large possible attack surface for cybercriminals, nation states and hacktivists to target.

DDoS Threats

Distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks are a constant source of pain for IT security managers, and the threat is growing globally. There was a 4 percent increase in the volume of attacks in Q4 2016 compared to the previous year, with the peak attack size up to 517Gbps and targets on average suffering not one but 30 attacks. DDoS is an ever-present threat. As one vector diminishes, another comes to the fore (as has happened recently with Network Time Protocol, or NTP).

The emergence of IoT-powered botnets such as Mirai has added a new level urgency to DDoS mitigation, with attacks of 300Gbps now not uncommon, according to Akamai. In our always-on digital world, even a few minutes of downtime can cost firms millions. Time, quite literally here, is money.

Record Threat Volumes

DDoS is far from the only security threat facing firms. One security vendor alone blocked over 81 billion unique threats last year, and recorded a spike in new ransomware families of 752 percent. The sheer range of threats, infection vectors and attack techniques is staggering. From relatively simple information-stealing Trojans to complex multi-staged zero-day threats, it requires security teams to constantly be on guard.

Organizations operating in China are exposed to exactly the same threats as anywhere else, and suffer the same financial and reputational fallout when one sneaks through. In fact, China was a top 10 global target for web app attacks in Q4, with SQLi, LFI and XSS the biggest threats.

The CTA Difference

Security teams have to manage all these myriad challenges while balancing the books and meeting sometimes rigorous regulatory and legislative compliance requirements. They must also ensure any security controls don’t interfere with data flows and employee productivity. Fortunately, China Telecom Americas has a number of managed security solutions designed to do all the heavy lifting for customers, providing maximum security while reducing cost and complexity.

Anti DDoS

CTA offers DDoS protection via two techniques: black hole filtering and “clean pipe.” Black holing drops unwanted traffic before it can enter a customer’s network. It does this by dynamically routing it to an empty “black hole” IP address. Clean pipe techniques work best on volumetric attacks and ensures traffic is scrubbed of any DDoS packets before entering the organization’s network by sending it to a CTA cleaning server first.

Threat Monitoring

At the heart of CTA’s threat-monitoring service is security information and event management (SIEM). This 24/7 platform monitors for threats around the clock, consolidating feeds from multiple sources around the customer’s IT environment for the most effective and comprehensive real-time monitoring and reporting possible. Threats are detected early, allowing for swift incident handling and remediation, which is vital to minimize the fallout of an attack. Hotline support and emergency threat advisories are also available around the clock where needed.

Secure Internet Access

Organizations operating in China, as elsewhere, need to enable secure remote and mobile networking to drive productivity and business agility while keeping data and systems protected. The answer is CTA’s mobile VPN (virtual private network) offering, based on China Telecom’s MPLS VPN hybrid network, which reaches across the entire mainland of China. It offers a highly secure encrypted connection into your corporate network from wherever you are, supporting key use cases including VoIP, videoconferencing and use of resource-hungry enterprise apps like ERP software.

In fact, corporate data security is guaranteed because the MPLS network connects directly with cloud providers like Amazon Web Services (AWS) and Azure. We also offer our VPN customers real-time network monitoring, proactive fault handling, network management and a centralized portal for easy management.

The above offerings are all part of the China Telecom Americas managed security platform, which also features web content filtering, AV protection, intrusion detection and prevention systems (IDS/IPS), cloud security and more. By outsourcing to a trusted global partner with a proven track record in China, organizations doing business in the region can be sure security is handled by the experts, freeing up their own IT teams to focus on more strategic tasks.

Contact Information 

For more information please contact:

[email protected]