Telecom Giants Unite to Revolutionize API Innovation on a Global Scale - Are You Prepared?

In a groundbreaking move, some of the world’s largest telecom operators—América Móvil, AT&T, Bharti Airtel, Deutsche Telekom, Orange, Reliance Jio, Singtel, Telefonica, Telstra, T-Mobile, Verizon, and Vodafone—are partnering with Ericsson to launch a new venture aimed at transforming how network Application Programming Interfaces (APIs) are accessed and used. This initiative seeks to combine network APIs on a global scale, simplifying access to advanced network capabilities and fostering innovation in digital services.

Historically, developers have faced significant barriers when attempting to leverage the sophisticated features of modern mobile networks. With hundreds of telecom operators worldwide, integrating these capabilities has been complex and impractical. The new venture solves this by offering a unified platform where developers can access and use network APIs from multiple telecom providers, creating a seamless experience.

This collaboration aims to empower developers to build applications that will work on any network, anywhere in the world. The implications for innovation are vast, as developers can now more easily tap into advanced network features, especially with the growing power of 5G and beyond. This global API marketplace will allow for rapid development of new applications and services that leverage cutting-edge telecom capabilities, ultimately transforming the telecom landscape.

Security Challenges

However, this initiative also presents significant security challenges. As network APIs become more accessible, they also expand the attack surface for potential cyber threats. With greater exposure comes the need for more stringent security measures to protect sensitive network data and maintain the integrity of the ecosystem. Prioritizing strong API security measures—such as robust authentication, authorization, and encryption protocols—will be critical to the success of this venture.

The telecom industry is undergoing a significant transformation, and the global marketplace for network APIs will play a pivotal role in shaping the future of digital services. Success will rely not only on driving innovation but also on ensuring the security and resilience of this new ecosystem. If managed well, this venture has the potential to usher in a new era of connectivity and digital innovation on a global scale.

How Salt Security can Help

At Salt, we can help by playing a critical role in supporting the newly announced telecom venture by addressing the security challenges associated with exposing network APIs on a global scale. With the venture aiming to make network APIs more accessible to developers worldwide, the expanded API landscape significantly increases the potential attack surface for cyber threats. Salt Security’s platform is designed specifically to address such risks, offering advanced API protection through several key capabilities such as real-time, automated discovery of all APIs, which is crucial for telecom operators that may struggle to maintain visibility over the wide range of APIs in use. With telecom APIs spanning multiple global providers, Salt can ensure that every API endpoint is accounted for, monitored, and secured. Salt Security also uses AI and machine learning to detect abnormal behavior and potential API attacks. In the context of a global API marketplace, Salt’s ability to detect subtle, sophisticated threats—such as those exploiting API vulnerabilities— is essential in preventing breaches, especially in a highly interconnected ecosystem like telecom.

With modern mobile networks and 5G being at the forefront of the telecom venture, there will also be the need to manage legacy systems. Salt Security’s platform ensures security across both legacy and modern APIs, enabling telecom operators to secure older infrastructure while they roll out newer services while staying compliant.

Posture Management key to API Security in Telecoms

Salt Security's Posture Management Engine is a core component of its API security platform, designed to continuously assess the security posture of APIs throughout their lifecycle. The engine automates the identification of potential vulnerabilities and misconfigurations in APIs, enabling organizations to proactively address security risks before they can be exploited by attackers.

Here’s how Salt Security's Posture Management Engine works and how it could benefit the newly announced telecom venture:

1. ‍API Vulnerability Detection: The Posture Management Engine uses automated, real-time analysis to continuously scan and evaluate APIs for vulnerabilities such as broken authentication, insufficient authorization, and data exposure. In the context of the telecom venture, this capability is crucial because the expanded network API landscape significantly increases the number of endpoints and potential attack vectors. By detecting these issues early, Salt helps prevent attackers from exploiting weak points in the API infrastructure.
2. ‍API Misconfiguration Remediation: The engine also identifies misconfigurations in API implementations, such as insecure API endpoints, improper data handling, or missing encryption. Telecom networks, particularly when combining APIs from multiple global providers, are complex environments with many moving parts. Misconfigurations in such an environment can lead to severe security breaches. The Posture Management Engine ensures that telecom operators can detect and remediate these issues before they lead to vulnerabilities.
3. ‍Continuous API Monitoring: APIs evolve rapidly, with frequent updates and new releases. The Posture Management Engine continuously monitors APIs, ensuring that even as they change, they remain secure. In a global API marketplace, where numerous telecom operators are involved, this continuous monitoring ensures that any change in the API landscape doesn’t introduce new risks, helping to maintain a stable and secure API environment.
4. ‍Enhancing Developer Agility with Security: For the new telecom API marketplace, the Posture Management Engine allows developers to innovate quickly while maintaining security. Developers often focus on functionality, but with Salt’s Posture Management Engine running in the background, they can be confident that their APIs are secure without requiring deep expertise in security. This allows telecom operators to scale their API offerings globally while giving developers the flexibility to create applications without fear of security gaps.
5. ‍Preempting Future Attacks: The Posture Management Engine leverages behavioral analysis and threat intelligence to identify not just current vulnerabilities but also potential future attack patterns. In a telecom API marketplace, where billions of API calls could be processed daily, this capability is key to staying ahead of evolving threats. By using AI to predict how attackers might exploit certain API vulnerabilities, Salt’s engine allows operators to harden their defenses in advance.

Securing the Global Telecom API Venture

Given the scale and ambition of the global telecom API initiative, managing API security posture is essential to ensuring trust and stability in the ecosystem. Salt’s Posture Management Engine:

• Provides real-time visibility into the security status of APIs across multiple telecom operators.
• Simplifies the management of API security, ensuring that developers and telecom operators don’t need to manually audit and address vulnerabilities.
• Helps ensure compliance and security standards are maintained across a global network, where telecom operators from different regions may be subject to diverse regulations.
• Supports the continuous evolution of APIs, ensuring that even as telecom networks grow and evolve, their APIs remain secure, compliant and resilient.

By integrating Salt Security’s platform, operators can foster innovation while maintaining a secure and resilient environment for developers to build and deploy new applications to keep them protected in this venture. Salt Security’s robust API protection would enable the telecom industry to confidently expose their network APIs without compromising on security, ensuring that this transformative global marketplace operates safely and efficiently.

If you want to learn more about Salt and how we can help you on your API Security journey through discovery, posture management, and run-time threat protection, please contact us, schedule a demo, or check out our website.