Data Backup Digest

Telstra is one of the biggest names in Australian telecommunications. With well over 16 million customers, more than that of its two largest competitors combined, they provide 4GX and additional services across more than 1,600 towns and communities. As such, they're in a unique position to join the fight against cybercrime and malicious online activity – and they're ready to step up to the plate and make their stand.

Neil Campbell, security solutions director with Telstra, explained the initiative by saying: "This is a genuine effort by a collection of very passionate people to change the face of security in this country.For example, we’ll see devices in a botnet communicate to a command-and-control server just in the way we operate our network, because as a telco we have a responsibility to monitor the network for security and availability reasons."

Unfortunately, things aren't quite so simple. While they've already outlined a four-pillar strategy of attack, known as "Cyber Secure Australia," they have one major obstacle standing in their way: the Australian government.

Campbell was able to shed some additional light on the matter, stating: "There are various bits of legislation here and there, including the Telecommunications Act, that grant telcos a certain amount of power to take proactive action, but it’s not clear enough for our liking." He continued by saying: "So what we want to do is to work with the federal government to make sure that we can do things that aren’t Big Brother-ish - because that’s not who we want to be - but that enable us to, where we have a high degree of confidence that a given kind of traffic is representative of malicious activity, be able to rate-limit it or block it altogether and therefore every user of the network benefits."

Paving the Way for the Four Pillars

If Telstra gains government approval, they'll be able to move forward with all four pillars of the plan. One pillar has already launched – it covers managed security services throughout the company. Another pillar introduces enterprise-grade security to small businesses, consumers, and the Internet of Things.

The fourth and final pillar, dubbed "Secure Internet," specifically targets the average Internet user. It's meant to inoculate – or safeguard – every user against the latest dangers of online connectivity. It also limits the accessibility of the threats as a means of minimizing and controlling the potential damage.

Campbell continued by saying: "This is a complex project but we aim to be able to deliver a service to small business customers initially that will give them an enterprise-grade firewall protecting their fixed network, as well as the same technology protecting two of their mobile devices and two next-generation endpoint clients to protect a Mac and/or a PC."

To find out more information on Telstra, including details on the steps they've already taken to combat cybercrime and malicious online traffic, please visit their official website at {{https://www.telstra.com.au|www.telstra.com.au}}.