CSPs strengthen B2B security offerings

Orange, Telefónica, and Verizon each made moves this week to expand their security service offerings for enterprises, signaling the growing importance of managed security among revenue growth opportunities for communications service providers (CSPs).

According to the TM Forum’s recent benchmark report, Telco revenue growth: taking it to the next level, security and cybersecurity services are already delivering strong growth for CSPs, particularly those offering managed cloud network services for large enterprises. The report found that 11 out of the 33 CSPs covered have a core line of business for security services and a further 19 are establishing one.

Tracking the CSPs that break out security revenue, Orange, Singtel, Spark, and Vodafone generated $1.65 billion from security and cybersecurity services in 2021, which is 18% more than in 2020, according to the report.

Orange acquires Swiss security specialist

Orange Cyberdefense, Orange Group’s security subsidiary, announced the acquisition of two Switzerland-based sister companies, SCRT and Telsys, for an undisclosed sum. SCRT provides “managed security services, consulting, ethical hacking, and remediation”, while Telsys specializes in managing IT solutions.

The deal is seen as strengthening the operator’s security capabilities in Europe, including cyber threat intelligence and ethical hacking, as well as boosting its presence in the Swiss B2B market. The two companies and their total 100 employees are expected to accelerate Orange Cyberdefense’s expansion in the Swiss-German region “in synergy with” Orange Business Services.

Building up Orange Cyberdefense is a strategic priority for the operator with a goal of achieving revenues of €1 billion in 2023. The operator said its security subsidiary’s turnover grew faster than the market in 2021.

Orange Group has not been shy about its ambition to be a leading pan-European cybersecurity services provider. The operator made its intentions known in 2019 with the acquisitions of European cybersecurity service providers SecureLink and SecureData, which rapidly expanded its presence in the market.

Following the Swiss acquisitions, Orange Cyberdefense now has 2,700 cybersecurity employees and a presence in nine European countries: France, Belgium, Denmark, Germany, Netherlands, Norway, Sweden, Switzerland, and UK. Its security infrastructure comprises 17 Security Operations Centers (SOCs) and 13 Cyber SOCS around the world.

Telefónica teams with Qualsys

As Orange made its Swiss acquisition, Telefónica Tech expanded its managed security services portfolio for enterprises in Spain and Portugal through an agreement with US cloud-based security supplier Qualsys. Telefónica Tech will integrate the Qualsys Cloud Platform and cloud applications into its own enterprise security offerings.

The platform gives enterprises a 360-degree view of IT systems across cloud and on-premises environments that enables the assessment of security intelligence. Alberto Sempere, cyber security product director at Telefónica Tech, said the operator will be able to “address the high complexity of our customers' hybrid and multi-network environments with a more agile, comprehensive and effective security posture thanks to Qualys' technology”.

Other Qualys telco security partners include Orange, NTT Security, Telus, and Verizon.

Verizon boosts wireless cyber protection with Allot

In the US, Verizon said it will offer cybersecurity protection to small and medium business (SMB) and Internet of Things customers via the NetworkSecure platform from Allot. By deploying the network-based platform, Verizon can protect customers while they use its wireless and fixed wireless access networks from various threats and malware, including ransomware, trojans, adware, viruses, bots, and phishing attacks.

Allot recently commissioned a survey of 1,000 small businesses (no more than 50 employees) across Asia/Pacific, Europe, and North America to understand SMBs’ expectations and what types of security they use. The survey found that only 27% of SMBs buy security services from their CSP but 44% said they believe their CSP is responsible for providing security solutions. Furthermore, 73% said want their Internet or data service provider to have security as a core offering. And even better news for CSPs is the finding that 35% of SMBs in North America and Asia/Pacific are willing to pay their ISPs than $7 per month per site to protect their networks.