In this blog, Patrick Donegan, Principal Analyst, HardenStance, points to the Operation Soft Cell cyber attack as a timely reminder of the new security risk communications service providers (CSPs) face. Patrick is the author of a new TM Forum report, Security imperatives for digital transformation. You can hear him discuss the report during a live webinar August 29.In July, security firm Cybereason
announced that it had identified a cyber attack, dubbed Operation Soft Cell, which targeted weaknesses in the management of the public-facing servers of 10 CSPs. A threat actor installed malware capable of exfiltrating call detail records (CDRs) that went undetected for no less than two years. Cybereason has declined to disclose more details as to whether the 10 were affiliates within the same operator group or 10 unique strike points on individual CSPs.
Protecting network availability as well as the confidentiality of customer data in transit used to be the centrepiece of telecom security. Nowadays, it’s just the most basic of basic table stakes. As demonstrated by the Soft Cell campaign, and a number of other high-profile incidents in recent years, CSPs are increasingly vulnerable to exfiltration of customer data at rest.
Attacks can take a variety of forms and can be carried out by a variety of threat actors. These range from a teenager in the case of the Talk Talk attacks of 2015 and
Orange Flex), purely enabled by a cloud-based IT stack. And with Salesforce Einstein, they managed to leverage AI to become predictive and proactive, and improve effectiveness.
How does TM Forum help you to achieve your digital transformation objectives?The Salesforce platform is fully aligned with TM Forum best practices, and previously received TM Forum Frameworx 16.0 certification. Salesforce also aligns with the
TM Forum Open APIs framework and even
recently joined the TM Forum Open API Manifesto. Salesforce was honored to receive this year’s
Business Transformation Excellence Award (together with Vlocity) for the successful digital transformation at KPN, and has also led the innovative
‘Driver Connect’ Catalyst (together with Jaguar-Land Rover, Nokia, Cerillion and TechSee), winning the ‘
Outstanding CurateFx ecosystem design’ Catalyst award. Salesforce is committed to partnering with and contributing to TM Forum as part of its telecommunications industry strategy.
In our recent research, we asked CSPs to rank the challenges to converging networks and operations. They cited culture first. Why is it such a challenge? What are the cultural challenges, and what can operators do to address this change?A key barrier for transformation is user/stakeholder adoption and buy-in. Successful transformations involve radically simplifying business processes and making them customer-centric. But if employees across the organization do not adopt, resist or even circumvent the new simplified processes, this could delay the transformation or even drive it to failure. To address cultural challenges, companies that transform need to implement rigorous change management across the organization that includes increasing awareness, training and measurement. Salesforce offers strong customer success services that help companies in this journey.
How is the convergence of networks and IT affecting the relationship between CSPs and suppliers?We see many telecom providers around the world adopting more and more cloud-based platforms in order to increase IT and business agility and reduce total cost of ownership. This is why many traditional network equipment suppliers as well as IT suppliers realize they need to accelerate their cloud offerings. Furthermore, some suppliers realize they must join forces with other suppliers and create better integration and joint value in order to improve stickiness. For example, Salesforce has recently joined forces with Nokia to deliver network insights to the customer service organization. This enables telecom providers to anticipate issues that impact the customer experience, and become proactive in addressing them and keeping the customer informed. As a result, the cost to serve is lower and customer satisfaction is higher.
A diverse workforce is defined as one that is made up of individuals with a wide range of characteristics and experiences, such as race, ethnicity, gender, age, religion, ability and sexual orientation. What are the biggest challenges your company faces in promoting diversity and what initiatives does it have to become a more diverse and inclusive workforce?Equality is one of our core values. As our Co-CEO Marc Benioff says, “We believe that businesses can be a powerful platform for change. It’s the business of business to make the world a better place.”
One of the ways we are actively doing that is through creating workplaces that reflect the communities we serve and live in. People can bring their full authentic selves to the workplace. The diversity of viewpoints and experiences of our employees, customers, partners and community are the driving force behind our growth and innovation.
As a leader, what are you doing on a daily basis to address diversity?Our equality values are part of each employee’s annual objectives. As a senior manager, I welcome the diversity in my team and always strive to ensure all of my employees get an equal opportunity.
Click here to watch the winners video from this year's Excellence Awards 
