Securing Telecommunications Networks Through Risk Analysis

Telecommunications & Network Security, Application Security and Operations Security

The ubiquity of smartphone technology within the world modern business has necessitated a greater emphasis on the use of telecommunications and network security within the pursuit of information security on an organizational level. Corporations and other complex institutions require a tremendous amount of data transmission -- in the form of standard telephone calls, text messages, and downloaded data -- which is facilitated by the construction of multilayered networks combining local area, wide area, and remote access networking capability. Networks of all size, scope, and purpose are dependent on fundamental tenets of security architecture and design, properties which are typically derived after the completion of a Network Security Architecture Evaluation based on multiple telecommunications methodologies (Layton, 2007). This evaluation process invariably leads information security officers to utilize the adaptable virtual private network (VPN), which is defined as "a secure private network that uses the public telecommunications infrastructure to transmit data," to secure "both extranets and wide area intranets using encryption and authentication & #8230; maintaining privacy and security" (Peltier, Peltier & Blackley, 2005).

Information security officers have also become highly cognizant of the effects that properly ensured application security can have on an organization's internal operations. The advent of in-house coding has enabled companies to develop proprietary software applications designed specifically to address particular functions of the business, with employees and customers encouraged to make use of the applications to facilitate e-commerce activity, customer service interaction, and other essential components of daily management. With thousands of applications being developed, tested and released by companies and corporations across the globe since smartphone technology became the preferred communicative medium, IT have been forcefully reminded that "when a custom application is written for your organization, each component or module of the application must be checked for security holes and proper coding practices" (Peltier, Peltier & Blackley, 2005).