DPI Deployment (15) : TalkTalk Uses Huawei to Detect Malware (or Parental Control?)

Chris Williams from The Register describes how TalkTalk (UK) is implementing a DPI system from Huawei to detect security threats from web sites accessed by its subscribers.

See "TalkTalk turns StalkStalk to build malware blocker" - here.

"The new system is provided by Chinese vendor Huawei, and customers can't opt out of the data collection exercise. As they browse the web, URLs are recorded and checked against a blacklist of sites known to carry malware. They are also compared to a whitelist of sites that have been scanned for threats and approved in the last 24 hours. If a URL appears on neither list, Huawei servers follow the user to the page and scan the code. ... A spokeswoman for the firm told The Register "Our scanning engines receive no knowledge about which users visited what sites (e.g. telephone number, account number, IP address), nor do they store any data for us to cross-reference this back to our customers"

"When the blocking features and parental controls of the system are activated, customers will be asked if they want to opt in at no extra cost, TalkTalk representatives said. The service will launch in the second half of this year once testing is complete, the spokeswoman added"

(picture: Clive Dorsman (right), Managing Director, TalkTalk Technology and Athena Wang, General Manager of Fixed Line, Huawei UK)

Value-Added Services, such as paternal control or malware detection could be also a monetization opportunity for ISPs - see "Cisco: "New Capabilities, New Business Models, New Revenues" - here.

Note that Talktalk demerged from Carphone Warehouse in March 2010 (here). Carphone Warehouse is an old customer of Sandvine (here), which could potentially offer the above solution.

Related posts:

• Chile: First Country to Legislate Net Neutrality  - here
• DPI Solution: KindSight's Security VAS - here