Telenet, the largest provider of cable broadband services and third largest mobile operator in Belgium, has selected Infradata and BroadForward to deploy a converged signaling firewall solution.
Telenet will benefit from an additional layer of security for both SS7 and Diameter networks to detect and prevent attacks such as subscriber ID theft, content theft and identify fake subscriber profiles.

Infradata, a preferred BroadForward Partner, was selected by Telenet based on their technical know-how and hands-on experience to design, implement and support BroadForward based solutions.

The BroadForward firewall solution is the first single-engine software solution to provide protection across 2G, 3G and 4G signaling protocols and will later include support for 5G (HTTP/2).

The BroadForward solution enables security measures across network protocols. It includes message screening and filtering for SCCP, TCAP, INAP and MAP messages according to the relevant GSMA FS.11 (SS7) specifications, as well as support for FS.19 (Diameter) enabling security measures such as anti-spoofing and Diameter peer authentication.

“In a converged network such as ours, the traditional approach to secure signaling per access network and protocol doesn’t suffice. This is where the BroadForward converged firewall solution excels, allowing us to detect attacks across networks and provide the tools to immediately act,” Luk Bruynseels, VP Mobile Technology at Telenet, said.

“Approximately 70 to 80 percent of all emergency calls are made from a mobile device, and with the network location information we can provide additional information to emergency services so they know where to find people when it matters,” Luk Bruynseels said.

Infradata replaced the legacy system with BroadForward’s Location Based Services solution that works in a multi-vendor environment and across network types.

“The converged Firewall solution provides Telenet with a gradual path to a converged security architecture across Diameter, SS7 and later HTTP/2 – required for 5G signaling operations. Telenet has a highly flexible central firewall function that works across legacy, current and future networks,” Infradata Managing Director Nico van Buitenen.

Telenet, a part of Liberty Global, offers quadruple-play services including video, broadband Internet, and fixed-line telephony (VoIP) as well as mobile voice and data services to 4.9 million service subscribers as of September 30, 2016.