Faster mobile networks, explosive consumer demand, more powerful smartphones, and the influx of non-handset mobile-ready devices make mobile networks an attractive option for hackers and digital exploits, putting both the network and end users at risk.


Nominum announced its Mobile Network and User Security Solution for mobile service providers – a new addition to the Nominum Mobile Suite.

When mobile operators consider security, there are countless options for niche security offerings that must be combined and stacked together to create a complete offering. With this announcement, Nominum now solves multiple mobile security needs in a single complete solution. Nominum is the only company to offer an integrated DNS-based architecture with solutions and applications to solve the business and operational issues faced by today’s mobile service providers.

Nominum’s new Mobile Security Solution leverages its carrier-grade DNS infrastructure that is already in place in the networks of many of the world’s top mobile service providers. Without requiring providers to install any single purpose or “security-specific” elements, this unique offering protects everything from network assets to end users.

Nominum’s Mobile Security Solution offers:

• Protection of vital network elements to provide assurances that mobile networks are always available and active
• Security of the DNS data to prevent hackers from redirecting legitimate web requests to malicious sites without any warning to impacted users
• Defense of the network from threats such as bots to enhance the user experience and protect them from threats including data and identity theft
• Prevention from virus, phishing and other user-targeted attacks on both mobile handsets and other connected devices.

As mobile networks become faster and more robust they are an increasingly attractive option for enabling PC-based access via USB dongles. In fact, according to Cisco (2011 Visual Networking Index), there were 175M laptops on the mobile network in 2011, and each laptop generated 22 times more traffic than the average smartphone. That means mobile networks are now subject to the same risks as traditional wired networks.

“As users put more and more digital information on their mobile devices and mobile networks carry an increasing amount of sensitive banking and personal information, the criminal opportunity in this space is a threat the mobile industry cannot overlook,” said Doug Miller, General Manager of Mobile Solutions for Nominum. “Mobile service providers know they have to protect not only their networks, but their end users accessing these networks. We are offering mobile service providers something that didn’t exist before – a complete mobile security solution to help them to deal with the new and growing security threat.”

The Nominum Mobile Security Solution is built on a three-tiered, integrated architecture that leverages core DNS engines through a series of platforms and applications. As such, this solution leverages network elements that are already in the network and does not require any additional elements to be added to the mobile network.

With these networks being even more sensitive to latency and single points of failure than wired networks, the ability to leverage existing infrastructure sets this wholly network-based approach apart from other competitive offerings. Due to the dynamic nature of the three-tiered architecture, this Mobile Security Solution is robust even as elements throughout the chain are upgraded or modified. Further, as Nominum builds additional applications to augment this solution, the integrated architecture ensures they can be added in short order to provide the greatest level of flexibility and agility.