Nominum secures Rostelecom’s Free Wi-Fi network in Sochi

Redwood City, USA, March 4, 2014.  Nominum^TM, the innovation leader in DNS and Internet Activity applications for Communication Service Providers (CSPs), today announced that Russia’s largest CSP, Rostelecom, has deployed network security solution Vantio ThreatAvert in order to protect its network in Sochi City, Russia. The DNS-based solution protects infrastructure, public Wi-Fi hotspots and ensures that access to network services is available to the city’s visitors at all times.

Rostelecom deployed the solution across its free Wi-Fi hotspots earlier this year to protect its network from the sudden influx of visitors expected to access the free Wi-Fi in the city, and provide a more reliable Internet experience.

Vantio ThreatAvert leverages DNS data, one of the building-blocks of the Internet, in order to protect service providers from attacks originating from within the network. Botnets can launch attacks on internal resources such as routers, DNS servers and gateways and external resources such as websites, network assets, enterprises and other users.

These types of threats are increasingly common and robust network solutions must be deployed in order to protect infrastructure, maintain network integrity and ensure an optimal level of performance for the end user. DNS data provides a level of policy granularity that is unmatched. By exploiting this data, ThreatAvert is capable of throttling attacks with configurable rate limiting capabilities.

Vantio ThreatAvert leverages Nominum’s Global Intelligence Xchange, which provides continuous real-time threat updates drawn from a best-in-class list of malicious domains and URLs. This database of threats is continuously updated, enabling Rostelecom to identify emerging threats and protect its network and dedicated Wi-Fi infrastructure, which has been installed in the city, from attacks.

Sanjay Kapoor, SVP Business Strategy and CMO, Nominum, said: “By selecting Vantio ThreatAvert, Rostelecom is using a best-in-class solution to protect its network and deal with some of the challenges that are presented when a network has a sudden influx of new users and unsecured devices. It is vital that visitors using Wi-Fi hotspots are able to access communications services without having to face any personal risk, but also CSPs need to equip themselves with defenses that ensure their networks operate seamlessly and deliver a safe and reliable internet experience.

“Network attacks lead to a poor customer experience such as slow Internet connections, spam, data exfiltration and more. By deploying Vantio ThreatAvert, Rostelecom is protecting its own infrastructure as well as reassuring customers utilizing its services.”

Alexey Cherednichenko, Regional Director, Russia and CIS, Nominum, said: “Over recent years, we have seen strong growth in the region, with market leading service providers such as Rostelecom deploying our solutions to protect their networks as botnet attacks have become more prevalent. This growth is due to the fact we have evolved with our customers, developing innovative solutions optimized to combat such threats.”

Muslim Medzhlumov, Head of Network Security Department, Rostelecom said: “With a sudden increase in users on our network we needed a solution that would both protect users and our network assets. Vantio ThreatAvert was selected because of the complete protection it offers and the added ability to prevent inappropriate content being viewed. These threats slow internet speeds, reduce service and damage brand reputation.”