Great Heists: Bank Robbery and Toll Fraud

10 Jun 2014

Willie Sutton robbed banks in the United States for 42 years. When asked why he committed the robberies, his response was, "that is where the money is at." If Willie Sutton were alive today, he would focus his efforts on the telecommunications industry. Malicious subscribers constantly attempt to make phone calls at the expense of service providers worldwide. This is defined as toll fraud, and the global impact has soared to more than $46 billion as recently as 2011. To put that into perspective, credit card fraud was $23 billion. Toll fraud is a risk that service providers understand, and they expect their Session Border Controllers (SBCs) to protect them from unauthorized access.

It's without question that the availability and use of SBCs has grown exponentially in the past couple of years. They are built to create and leverage a secure Unified Communications (UC) environment, where multiple devices across numerous networks can work with each other in a unified user experience. Service providers are knowledgeable of the many purposes that an SBC has in implementing UC, and one of the most important functions is maintaining security throughout the communication system. In fact, the significance of security has been first and foremost in the eyes of managers, as 88% of respondents in a 2012 Infonetics survey rated it as the most important SBC function. How, then, does this impact the applications for which service providers plan to use SBCs?

An SBC's main function is to deliver SIP trunking for enterprise and interconnection to other service providers, but it can also support the hosting of business Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) in delivering a UC environment of linked media and voice communications. VoIP-based UC services present a packet-based, IP-based solution that supports concurrent voice and data in a very efficient and cost-effective manner through up-and-coming high-speed mobile data connections. Combine this with the protection from attacks and fraud that comes from the use of SBCs, and you find the most secure, seamless communication method on the market today. It should be no surprise, then, that the percentage of service providers that plan to use SBCs for hosted business VoIP has grown from under 80% in 2012 (planning for 2014) to near 90% in 2013 (planning for 2015), according to the same Infonetics survey, conducted yearly.

Enterprises and Unified Communications as a Service (UCaaS) operators can leverage this technology to improve the security of their networks. As both move to using the Internet to provide Unified Communications, the opportunity for "bank robbers" to access and steal services increases without an SBC and Policy Engine. Sonus provides this technology. The SBC prevents unauthorized access while the PSX ensures that any access doesn't lead to stolen, completed calls to high cost geographies. Enterprises can focus on their core competencies while UCaaS operators can provide extraordinary communications features to their customers. Sonus can make sure both can do this without fear of theft of their networks.

Is your network "where the money is at?"


This is part of a Sonus blog series that will focus on Sonus' efforts on securing real-time communications across the Social, Mobile and Cloud (SoMoClo). David Tipping is vice president and general manager of the SBC Business at Sonus Networks, Inc.

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