Security of network element databases against increasing threats of intrusion via operations interfaces

A security strategy is presented to protect the operations database of a network element (NE) of a telecommunications network from unauthorized access and/or unauthorized transactions. With the advent of technology, and increased control of networks and service features by customers, it is expected that the NE operations database will become increasingly accessible to third-party service providers, large-business customers, and even small-business and residential customers. This, in turn, will increase the security risk to the NE database and force NE manufacturers to consider introducing features to enhance the database security. The author discusses some of these security threats and proposes the introduction of NE features that could reduct such threats