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Telcoms security (2003)
The telcom security market is constantly changing as new developments make their debut in the marketplace. We look at some options. By Steve Gold
Each year since 1996, SC Magazine has been looking at products and services in the telcoms security market. In the 1990s, the tests were dominated by hardware-based systems, since there was a limit to what could be tested in software. The internet, of course, changed everything
Along with the need to support authentication and interfacing with VPN/tunneling, encryption and other secure data transmission systems, this year's Group Test involves either software or services.
The first group of products are remote access applications that also support, to a varying degree, a number of third-party products. The second group are remote access services which support one or more public access network topologies, such as 802.11b (WiFi), PSTN dialup, ISDN, broadband and cable services.
While most of the products and services support good old modem communications, TCP/IP and 802.11b topologies are equally to the fore.
Selecting the products
We selected the products and services after discussions with both vendors and resellers, noting which offerings are popular and which have fallen from favor.
Because of the surge in interest in Wi-Fi services, coupled with a significant fall in the cost of hardware, we decided to create a second category of Wi-Fi services to review alongside the popular remote access applications.
We also took the decision to concentrate on the 802.11b Wi-Fi standard, which, despite being limited to a maximum speed of 11Mbps, has become the public access norm. This is regardless of the speed advantages of 802.11g technology which runs at 54Mbps and at a higher frequency than 11b, giving the technology greater resilience against interference.
The review methodology
We have attempted to review each product from the perspective of an IT security manager. In the case of some products and services, while they may be well received by users, this is not the case for an IT security manager.
It is clear from our research that some products have been allowed to evolve with security issues as an afterthought. Others have turned themselves around significantly in the past 12 months from a security pariah to becoming a five-star offering.
Ideally, all IT security managers would like to interface their network resources across secure and dedicated digital circuits, but the ubiquity of the internet and the low costs of PSTN and ISDN interworking mean that public networks are quite common.
In the mid to late 1990s, some communications products and services vendors ignored the needs of their customers. The result of this was a raft of communications offerings that, while they were of interest to a minority of users, did not make it commercially.
Today's offerings in the communications field have a much better pedigree, with vendors listening to their customers' views on what they want from a product or service.
Novice or experienced?
When conducting our reviews, we looked at the expected knowledge of target users of a given product or service, and then based the review around that level of knowledge.
This isn't as obvious as it sounds: take the 'packager' and 'push' remote installation features of pcAnywhere 11.0. Older versions of pcAnywhere were aimed at both novice and experienced remote communications users. Version 11.0 is not aimed at the novice, since the features of the package have changed markedly since version 5.0 and 6.0.
We were also careful to review the usage of a given product or service in the real world, rather than simply using it in the office.
In many instances, most notably when reviewing the security and allied features of a public Wi-Fi network, this strategy entailed talking to staff at the sharp end - such as receptionists in the hotels and airports where the public Wi-Fi network was offered.
Comparing and contrasting the comments of these staff with the sweeping comments of the vendors' marketing people, revealed an enormous chasm between the expectations of the vendor and the reality of customer support.
It is all very well expecting a customer to use a webchat facility to interface with support staff, but if the customer cannot access the service, such services are irrelevant.
Some support facilities were only available during limited hours. With many of the products and services aimed at staff on the road, we believe that 24x7 levels of support should be mandatory, even if the company has to charge a telephone incident fee to pay for the service, as Symantec and other similar providers, has done.
The internet may have changed the security ballgame for many, but the underlying security criteria that differentiate one product or service from another, have not.
