California-based Palo Alto Networks is helping Singapore telco Singtel strengthen cyber security for consumers and businesses.

Singtel’s Unified Secure Access Service Edge Convergence (Unified SASE Convergence) powered by Palo Alto Networks AI-powered Prisma SASE leverages the power of Precision AI, combining software-defined WAN (SD-WAN) and SIM-based authentication to help enterprises verify a user’s identity and IoT devices connected to Singtel’s network.

Deployed via a cloud platform, it prioritises IoT security, which is essential as more enterprises adopt such devices. However, many of these devices do not support end-point security software, which presents a vulnerability for consumers and businesses.

Singtel has also expanded its 5G security-as-a-slice (SecaaS) capabilities with a Palo Alto Networks firewall to protect roaming customers from foreign network vulnerabilities, surveillance risks and hacking attempts. By employing SecaaS and AI, the telco can identify, analyse and block scam or phishing web sites, applications and emails from unsecured sources.

The Unified SASE Convergence and SecaaS for roaming and IoT are part of Singtel CUBΣ (www.singtel.com/business/products-services/connectivity/cube), a suite of AI-powered network services that helps enterprises modernise their digital network infrastructure so they can work smarter, more efficiently and cost effectively to grow and scale their businesses.

“We understand the complexities and challenges facing enterprises as they try to innovate and scale securely,” said Ng Tian Chong, CEO of Singtel. “That’s why we developed CUBΣ and many other enterprise options to support businesses with their rapid digitalisation and growth goals. This partnership with Palo Alto Networks marks another milestone in enhancing security for businesses and consumers who are increasingly operating in distributed environments. With our strong network and security capabilities, we’re ensuring a zero-trust architecture that offers our customers an unparalleled level of security and performance so they can take advantage of all the opportunities that technology has to offer.”

Anand Oswal, senior vice president at Palo Alto Networks (www.paloaltonetworks.com), added: “As enterprises accelerate digital transformation, security must be embedded at the network level to protect users, devices and applications, wherever they operate. Our expanded partnership with Singtel marks a significant step forward in delivering AI-powered, zero-trust security that is seamlessly integrated with Singtel connectivity. With Unified SASE Convergence and one of the world’s first 5G SecaaS offerings, businesses can now secure their mobile, branch and data centre environments with industry-leading threat prevention, ensuring a safer, more resilient digital future.”

The convergence of networking and security in SASE represents a shift in how organisations approach network architecture and security. By integrating critical functions into a cloud-native framework, Singtel’s Unified SASE Convergence simplifies management, improves performance and enhances security posture. This includes enabling secure, identity-based access, regardless of user location. With this, organisations can be assured of a secure network that connects employees, systems and endpoints to corporate applications and resources.

With 5G SecaaS, Singtel helps enterprises strengthen access controls across all IoT devices on the enterprise network and gain deep insights into their IoT assets, communication patterns and risks. They can monitor IoT devices’ internet traffic activity round-the-clock and prevent threats in real time through signature-based detection. Alerts show potential threats, device vulnerabilities and risks.

SecaaS is available as part of Singtel’s Mobile Protect for 5G customers. Since its launch six months ago, Mobile Protect has protected more than 20,000 customers, filtering over 600,000 malicious URLs and blocking over 5000 cyber threats such as viruses, malware, spyware and phishing links in real time, daily.

Since achieving nationwide 5G coverage, Singtel has unlocked many technological advancements in areas such as edge computing and network slicing that support real-time fast data transfer and analytics for mission-critical applications. Network slicing is especially useful for sectors such as construction, manufacturing, healthcare and security as it allows enterprises to leverage independent virtual networks over a single physical infrastructure for specific application needs, ensuring performance, reliability and security across enterprise systems.

Singtel (www.singtel.com) has deployed 5G network slicing at large-scale events, such as the National Day Parade as well as Taylor Swift and Coldplay concerts to provide attendees with fast, reliable connections even in device-dense environments.