A10 Networks
Toward a More Secure 5G World

Next-generation 5G networks are currentlyone of the most exciting technology developments globally. Much has been written about the potential of these ultra-high-speed, low-latency networks, which will drive a new era of digital innovation, breakthrough applications, and revenue growth for mobile operators and the economy as a whole. Digital transformation is the key driver of technology today across the globe and across all industry verticals. Long-standing challenges and new trends are helping to shape the path that digital transformation takes for enterprises and service providers alike. The expanding challenges of realigning security and IT operations to encompass a complex multi-cloud world, IoT proliferation, the evolution of networks to the cloud, and preparing for 5G all impact the ability and speed at which businesses are transforming. CIOs, CTOs, and CISOs today are concerned about three key themes: how will they help drive growth and revenue, how will they ensure the best customer (and employee) experience, and how will they drive further operational efficiencies. Enter A10 Networks Founded in 2004, Headquartered in San Jose, California, the firm enables service providers and enterprises to deliver business-critical applications that are secure, available, and efficient for multi-cloud transformation, and 5G readiness.

A10 Networks helps our customers by always providing available application delivery and security– on-premises and in the cloud—supporting seamless migration to the cloud and cloud-native with hybrid solutions and protecting networks from cyber security attacks that threaten network availability. It also simplifies IT operations with connected intelligence, automation, machine learning, and DevOps/SecOps tools, secures multi-generational networks throughout the transition to 5G and cloud-native architectures, and provides investment protection for enterprises and service providers throughout their business transformations.

However, the build-up of threat intelligence is a somewhat slow process compared to IoT devices’ proliferation. To stay one step ahead of the threats, there is a need to employ machine learning (e.g., using classification algorithms) to dynamically identify certain patterns of data that may potentially be malicious to network services. For instance, if we can identify that a unique pattern of data (that is usually not in our threat intelligence blacklist) is emanating from multiple source IP addresses in the network toward a specific destination IP address, then it could potentially point to a coordinated DDoS attack that may be emanating from multiple IoT devices towards a specific service. An unsupervised classification algorithm could be used on a randomly selected set of packets to identify such a unique pattern of data. This attack may be very short-lived and dynamic, which makes a relatively static threat intelligence blacklist rather useless.

Manual interventions are not only resource-intensive but too slow and ineffective, resulting in a greater potential of network downtime and high cost to the organization

“At A10 Networks, we achieve this with the Zero-day Automated Protection (ZAP) capability in our Thunder® Threat Protection System (TPS) product line,” says Dhrupad Trivedi, President, and Chief Executive Officer, A10 Networks.

A10 Networks adds Zero-day Automated Protection (ZAP) capabilities to its leading Thunder Threat Protection System (TPS) family of Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) defense solutions. The ZAP capabilities automatically recognize the characteristics of DDoS attacks and apply mitigation filters without advanced configuration or manual intervention. This speeds the response to the increasingly sophisticated multi-vector attacks to minimize downtime and errors and lower operating costs.

Today’s DDoS attacks are more prevalent, multi-vector in nature, and morph over time. With millions of IoT devices predicted to be in use over the coming years, driven by the transition to 5G networks, traditional DDoS solutions will quickly become inadequate. Current solutions are static, reactive, and require significant operator intervention, resulting in a slow response time to the rapidly evolving attack landscape. DDoS detection and mitigation is a growing concern for enterprises, cloud providers, and service providers alike. In a recent A10 Networks survey of mobile operators, 63 percent saw advanced DDoS protection as the most critical security capability needed for 5G networks. In an IDG research report, respondents confirmed that the number-one most important capability in a DDoS solution was automated detection and mitigation.

DDoS Protection Powered by Machine Learning

A10 Networks’ ZAP is comprised of two components: dynamic attack pattern recognition by a machine learning algorithm and heuristic behavior analysis recognition to dynamically identify anomalous behavior and block attacking agents. ZAP works in conjunction with A10 Networks’ adaptive DDoS security model and its five-level adaptive policy mitigation engines to provide a complete in-depth defense system. This comprehensive approach blocks DDoS attacks while protecting legitimate users from indiscriminate collateral damage typically associated with traditional DDoS protection methods. A combination of hardware and software can enforce the ZAP policies. Thunder SPE (Security and Policy Engine) appliances can serve up to 100,000 ZAP policies at line rate, and the remaining ZAP policies can be served by software.

This provides superior mitigation performance over the traditional software-only solution, enabling superior response time and scalability.

“In today’s climate with the dramatic increase in polymorphic multi-vector attacks and the chronic shortage of qualified security professionals, enterprises and service providers need intelligently automated defenses that can accomplish tasks autonomously,” said Trivedi. “Manual interventions are not only resource-intensive but too slow and ineffective, resulting in a greater potential of network downtime and high cost to the organization.” A10 Networks provides the highest performance with 500 Gbps of protection in a single one-rack unit (RU) appliance, leading automation capabilities with ZAP and five-level adaptive policy, and actionable DDoS weapons threat intelligence for a complete multi-modal defense in depth solution.

"At A10 Networks, we achieve this with the Zero-day Automated Protection (ZAP) capability in our Thunder® Threat Protection System (TPS) product line"

DDoS Detection and Mitigation

Thunder TPS is used by top service providers and online gaming companies to provide scalable and automated DDoS protection powered by advanced machine learning to detect and mitigate attacks. Thunder TPS is a Multi-modal source-based defense that pinpoints attackers without damaging users and provides a 5-level adaptive mitigation policy, Zero-day Automated Protection (ZAP), Actionable distributed denial-of-service weapons Intelligence at a scale of 96M-entry black/white lists, 100 ms mitigation interval, and 3-second detection response. With its Zero-touch Intelligent Automation, its provides an adaptive real-time learning and service discovery, autonomous traffic steering with integrated BGP, ISIS, OSFP routing protocols, zero-day Attack Pattern Recognition (ZAPR) engine, interworking distributed intelligence with Thunder ADC, Thunder GCN, Thunder CFW, and also eliminates manual interventions, speed response. Thunder TPS offers some additional options such as flexible and robust Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) protection, with a wide range of hardware and software deployment models to meet client’s exact needs. And also, its network integration is simple, seamless integration into the client’s existing network infrastructure for on-demand reactive, always-on proactive, hybrid DDoS, and distributed detection with One-DDoS Protection deployment options.

In summary, IoT devices provide us with a wide range of exciting capabilities and services, which will only expand with the transition to 5G. However, it is very important for us to secure the IoT devices themselves by practicing good security hygiene and secure the network using threat intelligence, machine learning, and by employing managed connections. And as edge computing begins to proliferate, take advantage of these environments to expand intrusion protection at the edge where all of these devices connect. Hence, A10 Networks, which focuses on automating and simplifying the IT landscape and can do so at scale, will be well-positioned to help customers fortify their security postures.