ComptelPLUS Fall14 Show Daily Day 2

COMPTEL PLUS Fall 2015 Business Expo

Beka Publishing,

www.bekapublishing.com

COMPTELPlus

Tuesday, October 20, 2015

DAY 2

ecognizing the ongoing and

increasing threats from distrib-

uted denial of service (DDoS)

attacks, NTT Com is highlighting its

DDoS Protection Service at COMPTEL

PLUS. This service allows for fast and

effective actions to minimize the

impact of a hit.

Cybersecurity remains at the top

of the headlines, with world leaders

and network engineers alike talking

about its risks and remedies. But while

any organization with an online pres-

ence is a potential target for a DDoS

attack, many organizations have inad-

equate security strategies in place for

defending against such a threat.

There is no single strategy to

defend against today’s sophisticated

and evolving DDoS threat landscape. Instead,

a layered defense approach – which combines

traditional security measures, vast availability of

bandwidth, intelligent DDoS mitigation systems

and sound risk management strategies – is recom-

mended. NTT Com has deployed technologies to

aid in the effort, built upon DDoS protection plat-

forms, NTT Com’s global Tier-1 IP network and 24x7

expert monitoring services.

One of the most common types of online

threats, a DDoS attack is an attempt to make a

network resource unavailable by interrupting or

suspending services of a host connected to the

Internet, usually by overwhelming it with bogus

traffic flows. These attacks can strike at any time,

potentially crippling network infrastructure and

severely degrading user experience.

When notified of a possible attack, NTT Com’s

dedicated network security team analyzes key

network data to confirm whether an attack is in

progress, and then rapidly re-directs incoming

traffic through the mitigation platform. The

DDoS Protection Service platform is built on

best-of-breed technology, which removes attack

traffic and passes legitimate “clean” traffic onto a

network, allowing businesses to stay online and

function during the attack.

A recent report by Akamai found that the

number of DDoS attacks in the second quarter of

2015 increased 132 percent compared with the

same period last year. The study also said that

the average DDoS attack lasted nearly 21 hours.

Those 21 hours are hours during which customers

can’t shop online, pay their bills or check e-mail—

which directly affects a company’s bottom line.

Depending upon the type and severity of the

attack, the impact might also result in resource

damages, decreased productivity and irreparable

harm to a company’s brand.

Early DDoS attacks were focused primarily on

flooding network resources with unwanted traffic

so that legitimate traffic would be unable to reach

the intended target. More recently, application

layer attacks designed to compromise a specific

service on a host have become more prevalent.

Because application layer attack traffic looks similar

to legitimate traffic, traditional security measures,

such as filtering, firewalls and intrusion detection

and protection systems are not sufficient defenses.

In addition, attackers are learning from the

defending countermeasures being used and adjusting

their attacks towards other targets and vulnerabilities.

The motivations of attackers

can range from social and political

protests—“hacktivism”—to finan-

cial extortion with the intent to

disrupt governments, organiza-

tions or businesses. In many cases

DDoS attacks are the cover for other

hacking crimes, such as property,

fund or data thefts.

Recent political instability and

unrest in the Middle East, Ukraine

and Africa saw corresponding spikes

in DDoS attacks on regional busi-

nesses and governments. Often,

websites dedicated to reporting

abuses or censorship become

targets of DDoS attacks as well.

Internet-centric businesses,

online retailers and e-commerce

websites are especially vulnerable even, if

they have some DDoS mitigation tools in

place. However, insufficient budget resources,

a shortage of qualified personnel, and a lack

of C-level support are still critical barriers to

preventing and mitigating attacks, a report from

the Ponemon Institute found.

“NTT Com offers the technology, experience

and flexibility that competitive telecommunica-

tions providers need to design and implement

a comprehensive and successful DDoS defense

strategy,” the company said.

NTT Com DDoS Protection Helps Mitigate Cyber-Attacks

quinox (Booth 703) has announced that it is

now an employee-owned business.

Under a fresh structure, Equinox

employees have stock ownership in the company,

with allocations based on performance and tenure,

where one’s ownership percentage increases

according to years of service, until retirement.

The company’s transition to an employee

stock ownership plan (ESOP) fulfills the vision of

founders Wayne Lowe and Byron Middendorf,

the company said, which was to “create a great

place to work.”

“Wayne and I realize that Equinox’s success in

the market is directly tied to customer satisfac-

tion, which is, of course, fueled by happy, well-

tended employees,”Middendorf, the company’s

CEO. “In thinking about how to further take care

of our employees, instituting an ESOP just felt like

the next natural step.”

Since its inception in 1986, Equinox has

focused on helping telecom customers stop

fraud, mediate usage data, manage expenses and

optimize revenue. Based on the company’s reach

and experience across virtually every sector of

the telecom industry around the globe, including

cable telephony, wireline, wireless, rural inde-

pendent, CLEC, and wholesale providers, Lowe

said that there’s no doubt that this model works,

benefitting employees and customers alike.

“It was very rewarding to present the new

ownership structure and initial stock distribu-

tion earlier this year,” added Lowe, the compa-

ny’s president. “Transitioning [employees]

to stakeholders is a tangible way to thank

employees for their years of dedicated work,

and it also has exciting implications for our

customers. Shared ownership is a catalyst for

innovation and collaborative company expense

management. In fact, data from national studies

shows that employee-owned companies

demonstrate improved performance over non-

ESOPs. We are all excited about the future.”

Equinox Transitions to New

Employee-Owned Structure