Orange Business Services taps Ericsson for enterprise IoT security

Ericsson has launched a new internet of things (IoT) security offering, Threat Monitoring and Mitigation (TMM), citing its own research that shows there will be nearly six billion cellular IoT devices in use by the end of 2026, and security will be a critical factor in their deployment by communications service providers (CSPs).

The new service is designed to enable service providers to extend cellular IoT devices’ connectivity with security and Ericsson’s offering is designed to meet increasing enterprise needs to detect and respond to growing security threats in mission-critical, industrial and enterprise environments.

According to the SonicWall global cyber attack trends report from March 2021, malware attacks on IoT devices in 2020 jumped by 66% compared with 2019. In a year, they grew from 34.3 million cases to nearly 56.9 million. The attacks reached their peak in October 2020, when they hit 10.8 million cases – more than in all of 2017.

In addition, a blog posting from AtlasVPN at the same time said the rise in IoT malware attacks was not entirely unforeseen. It noted that by 2020, IoT technology was estimated to be in 95% of electronics for new product designs and it made logical sense that as the number of devices with IoT technology grows, so do the cyber threats.

Worryingly, given the fact that in the new world of work, where the hybrid model is set to dominate, AtlasVPN said the shift to remote work was another factor in the surge in IoT malware attacks in 2020. It said that as workers started accessing their company systems via home networks, which are often connected to multiple unsecured home devices, the latter became an attractive target for cyber criminals, who found they could use vulnerable IoT devices to access company networks.

To address such concerns, Ericsson said that with the new TMM, service providers can deliver security services on top of their IoT connectivity, enabling them to offer high-value IoT threat monitoring and mitigation services to enterprises. TMM detects both known and unknown threats and provides capabilities to block and contain threats on the enterprise’s IoT service and devices. This ability prohibits the exfiltration of data or participation in a denial-of-service attack.

Ericsson’s security management automation platform, Ericsson Security Manager, is the core component of the IoT Threat Monitoring and Mitigation offering, an extended capability of Ericsson’s IoT Accelerator Platform.

Global network-native digital services company Orange Business Services collaborated closely with Ericsson during the development of the new service. It will offer the service to its enterprise customers under the name of IoT Services Controlled. It will be available on top of its IoT Managed Global Connectivity solution based on Ericsson’s IoT Accelerator platform.

“Security is paramount for our enterprise customers,” said Luc Savage, IoT marketing director at Orange Business Services. “With this service, we can offer a highly demanded IoT security monitoring and mitigation service on top of our international connectivity services. Thanks to our partnership with Ericsson, we can prevent an attack and react accordingly, while ensuring our customers’ data is well protected.”

Åsa Tamsons, head of business area technologies and new businesses at Ericsson, added: “Security is one of the biggest obstacles for enterprises digitising their businesses. Ericsson Security Manager is now integrated with its IoT Accelerator Platform to address this concern and reduce enterprises’ IoT cyber security risks.”