{"id":22908,"date":"2025-10-22T13:51:58","date_gmt":"2025-10-22T12:51:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/telecomkh.info\/?p=22908"},"modified":"2025-10-22T13:51:58","modified_gmt":"2025-10-22T12:51:58","slug":"critical-networks-face-stealthy-intrusions-record-breaking-ddos-attacks-and-rising-cryptographic-demands-according-to-nokia-study","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/telecomkh.info\/?p=22908","title":{"rendered":"Critical networks face stealthy intrusions, record-breaking DDoS attacks and rising cryptographic demands, according to Nokia study"},"content":{"rendered":"

Nearly 2 in 3 telecom operators experienced at least one \u201cliving off the land\u201d attack the past 12 months, and 32% saw four or more<\/strong><\/p>\n

Cyber attackers are increasingly penetrating core telecom infrastructure undetected; DDoS attacks have surged to new extremes, powered by compromised home internet connections; and crypto agility is moving from roadmap to requirement, according to Nokia’s 11th annual Threat Intelligence Report.<\/p>\n

Among the report\u2019s key findings:<\/p>\n

Stealthy campaigns now target the telco core<\/strong>
\nAttackers have stepped up their intrusions into telecom networks, in some cases reaching sensitive systems such as subscriber data and lawful interception platforms, as seen in the high-profile Salt Typhoon case. They often hide in plain sight by abusing trusted tools, unpatched devices and misconfigurations.
\n\u2022 63% of operators faced at least one \u201cliving off the land\u201d attack last year; 32% saw four or more.
\n\u2022 Multi-year, low-profile infections have led to major data exposure and forced operators into costly remediation, highlighting the business and reputational risks of long-term, privileged access.
\n\u2022 As the CISO from one leading CSP in North America said, \u201cSalt Typhoon was the most significant cybersecurity incident we faced in the last 12 months. \u2026 Some of the entry points were put in place years ago, just sitting and waiting for the right moment to trigger.\u201d<\/p>\n

DDoS attacks are shorter and more powerful<\/strong>
\nTerabit-scale DDoS attacks are now a daily reality, up from once every five days in 2024, and gigabit residential broadband connectivity is amplifying the dangers.
\n\u2022 DDoS peaks in the 5 to 10 Tbps range are the \u201cnew normal,\u201d escalating faster than most alert systems can raise alarms.
\n\u2022 Some 78% of DDoS attacks now end within five minutes (up from 44% in 2024), with 37% wrapping up in under two minutes, highlighting the need for rapid detection and mitigation.
\n\u2022 Over 100 million residential endpoints (4% of the global total) are now available for exploits and malicious uses of bandwidth.<\/p>\n

AI is now central to defense, and quantum-safe networking is the next frontier<\/strong>
\nMore than 70% of telecom security leaders now prioritize AI- and ML-based threat analytics, and over half plan to deploy AI for detection within 18 months \u2014 a direct response to stealthy attacks and rapid DDoS campaigns. In a similar sense, telcos also need to adopt automated certificate management and encryption that\u2019s ready for the quantum future.
\n\u2022 The timespan in which digital certificates remain valid is shrinking dramatically, from currently over a year to just 47 days by 2029.
\n\u2022 Despite upcoming compliance deadlines from governing bodies \u2014 particularly in the European Union \u2014 the industry\u2019s sense of urgency is low: Quantum computing risk ranks second to last among concerns for network security professionals.<\/p>\n

Insider risk, human error and misconfigurations remain major vulnerabilities<\/strong>
\nNearly 60% of high-cost breaches stem from insider actions or mistakes, with complex supply chains further increasing exposure to credential misuse, privilege escalation and physical access breaches.
\n\u2022 Hygiene gaps still open doors too, as 76% of vulnerabilities stem from missing patches.
\n\u2022 Application layer issues, including poor access controls and exploitable software flaws, remain prevalent as digital services expand.<\/p>\n

\u201cConnectivity powers everything from public safety and financial transactions to digital identity. Recent attacks have reached lawful interception systems, leaked sensitive subscriber data and disrupted emergency services. The industry must fight back through shared threat intelligence, AI-driven detection and response, and crypto-agility, turning interconnected networks from a vulnerability into a source of resilience.\u201d, said Kal De, Senior Vice President, Product and Engineering, Cloud and Network Services at Nokia.
\n\u201cIn light of the rise of industrialized attack tools, millions of insecure IoT endpoints and organized botnets employing residential proxies, network owners must act now to protect their assets and customers from massive, complex and highly variable DDoS attacks in the 10+ terabit range. Security should not be an afterthought; rather, DDoS protection must be built into the network itself, ensuring critical network functions continue uninterrupted.\u201d, said Jeff Smith, Vice President and General Manager of Nokia Deepfield<\/p>\n

About the report<\/strong>
\nThe Nokia Threat Intelligence Report draws on operational insights from the company\u2019s NetGuard and Deepfield portfolios, real-world data from Managed Security Services operations, advanced research from Nokia Bell Labs, and expertise in cybersecurity consulting and quantum-safe networking. These are complemented by fresh quantitative and qualitative insights from 160 global telecom security leaders, providing a nuanced, evidence-based view of the risks and responses shaping the sector. The report includes a comprehensive set of recommendations spanning threat detection and response, AI adoption, DDoS mitigation, regulatory compliance, quantum readiness and more, to help telecom operators strengthen resilience across their networks.<\/p>\n

Above, Kal De, Senior Vice President, Product and Engineering, Cloud and Network Services at Nokia \/ image credited to Nokia<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Nearly 2 in 3 telecom operators experienced at least one \u201cliving off the land\u201d attack the past 12 months, and 32% saw four or more Cyber attackers are increasingly penetrating core telecom infrastructure undetected; DDoS attacks have surged to new extremes, powered by compromised home internet connections; and crypto agility is moving from roadmap to … <\/p>\n

Continue reading \u00abCritical networks face stealthy intrusions, record-breaking DDoS attacks and rising cryptographic demands, according to Nokia study\u00bb<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":22909,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[24],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/telecomkh.info\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22908"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/telecomkh.info\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/telecomkh.info\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/telecomkh.info\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/telecomkh.info\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=22908"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/telecomkh.info\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22908\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":22910,"href":"https:\/\/telecomkh.info\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22908\/revisions\/22910"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/telecomkh.info\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/22909"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/telecomkh.info\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=22908"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/telecomkh.info\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=22908"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/telecomkh.info\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=22908"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}