Securing IP infrastructure a breeze for Excelcomindo with Nokia Siemens Networks Security consulting

Excelcomindo Pratama (XL), one of the leading mobile network providers in Indonesia, is deeply committed to maintaining comprehensive telecommunications infrastructure that is well insulated from fraud, potential revenue leakages, and security threats so as to ensure healthy revenues and provide the highest quality of services for XL customers.

“The Nokia Siemens Networks team was professional, knowledgeable, proactive in offering suggestions, and had the solution deliverables completed within the agreed schedule.”
 
Andri Purnomo Information System Security Assurance Manager, Business Assurance Department XL

However, XL found that existing industry standards lacked any security provisions for the state-of-the-art telecommunications network technology it had implemented. Updated security best practices for its converged network infrastructure were urgently required.

“We knew that we would increase the risk of unauthorized access as we moved our GSM infrastructure from a proprietary system to an open one, towards Internet Protocol (IP) technology,” said Andri Purnomo, Information System Security Assurance Manager, Business Assurance Department, XL. “New security best practices would provide quality checks on our production system so that we could improve system reliability and offer higher quality services to our customers.”

XL also realized that its security practices could be streamlined. Previously, auditing each network element required skilled resources and just auditing one element took several man-days.

Hardening a network element for hostile environments was also time-consuming, and there were no standardized procedures to follow. 

Challenges

  • Existing industry standards could not handle the levels of security that XL required for the protection of its telecommunications infrastructure. The outdated security practices meant that XL was exposed to higher security risks such as unauthorized access to its network and potential revenue leakages
  • Need to comply with XL's Subsidiary Policy, external audit requirements, and Indonesian government policies
  • Security procedures were relatively inefficient, time consuming and lacked consistency
Track record inspires confidence of an on-time, on-target delivery

After analyzing the proposals from a number of international and local vendors, XL chose Nokia Siemens Networks on the strength of its proposal and its established expertise in both telecommunications and security consulting.

“Nokia Siemens Networks understood XL’s challenges and is highly qualified to develop a GSM infrastructure security baseline that defines the best approach to realizing consistency through standardized concepts, establishing better productivity through automation tools, and providing quality-based measurements for compliance and the maintenance of a wide variety of IP-based GSM network elements at XL,” said Purnomo. “In addition, their expertise in both telecommunications and security gave us the confidence that we would get an on-time delivery of a complete solution tailored for XL’s security needs.”

Solution

  • Nokia Siemens Networks security consulting services
  • Creation of telecom security baseline (a set of security standard operating procedures, standards and tools) for XL
  • Customized auditing tool that automates the checking of compliance with defined security baseline
Tighter security with telecom security baseline

Nokia Siemens Networks Solutioneers proposed a telecom security baseline that would provide standardized, automated and high-quality security maintenance for XL’s IP-based GSM network elements. The baseline clarified the level of security that had to be implemented for each network element, enforced consistency in the procedures required, and provided detailed implementation guidelines. Nokia Siemens Networks also created a customized auditing tool that automated the checking of compliance with the defined security baseline.

 

Benefits

  • Improved security of XL’s telecom infrastructure reduces its exposure to various security threats and ensures that XL can operate its telecommunications network securely, even in hostile environments
  • Availability, integrity, and confidentiality of subscriber information is improved so the risks to the company’s brand and of potential revenue losses are minimized
  • Compliance with the XL Subsidiary Policy, external audit requirements, and Indonesian government policies is ensured, minimizing the risks of a potential loss of reputation or of operational losses
  • Improved governance as all teams involved can now refer to the same security standards
  • Costs have been saved and resources freed through streamlining the process of hardening network elements and automating security compliance procedures

Peace of mind for XL

Nokia Siemens Networks did not disappoint during the implementation process. “The Nokia Siemens Networks team was professional, knowledgeable, proactive in offering suggestions, and had the solution deliverables completed within the agreed schedule,” said Purnomo.

Post-implementation, the security baseline has effectively strengthened XL’s infrastructure against hostile environments and reduced the telco's exposure to various security risks. XL can safely leverage the Internet while providing more enriched services, for example.

“The implementation helps us to maintain and improve the availability, integrity, and confidentiality of our subscribers’ information and ensures compliance with our Subsidiary Policy, external audit requirements, and Indonesian government policies,” explained Purnomo.

The creation of the telecom security baseline has also helped to increase the effectiveness and efficiency of securing the network as a whole.

Last but not least, the implementation has saved costs and freed up resources through standardization and automation.