Feb 24, 2021
Company responds to growing consumption of digital entertainment
BUENOS AIRES, Feb. 23, 2021 /PRNewswire/ — To continue supporting the strong demand in internet traffic driven by video and gaming platforms, Lumen nearly quadrupled the capacity of its Content Distribution Network (CDN) in Latin America, strengthening service capabilities in Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Mexico and Peru.
“Lumen knows the best networks are the result of early and ongoing investments; this is what sets us apart,” said Leonardo Barbero, Lumen LATAM senior vice president of products. “Expanding our networks throughout LATAM is what has enabled us to seamlessly transit information across the peaks of demand generated by the pandemic. Throughout 2020, we reinvested to be prepared for a phenomenon that will continue to grow.”
Latin America network expansions include:
- Mexico Tripled the current amount of fiber route miles to 2237 miles.
- Ecuador Added a 500-mile fiber optic route connecting to Colombia, and a 600-mile national fiber ring.
- Chile Added an additional 34 fiber route miles connecting 200 corporate buildings in Greater Santiago.
- Argentina Added 112 fiber route miles between the provinces of Mendoza and San Juan
- Brazil Added more than 280 fiber route miles between the northeast of the country, São Paulo, Belo Horizonte and Rio de Janeiro.
Lumen is also increasing its Content Delivery Network (CDN) capacity to meet growing demands from global broadcasters, over the top (OTT) video streaming platforms and gaming companies to deliver high-performing web applications, ultra-high-definition (UHD) video streaming and game downloads. In addition, Lumen added more than 260 racks into its data centers in Colombia, Brazil, Peru and Argentina during 2020, offering customers additional space for housing servers, networking devices and other computing equipment.
“Our top goal is to stay on top of new network demands and continuously deliver robust, high-quality services across our network infrastructure, with maximum security,” noted Barbero. “As demand increases, becomes more complex or changes, our platform will adapt to ensure we’re offering the best digital experience possible.”
According to data from Statista, the streaming entertainment market saw a turnover of more than US$50 billion in 2020 and will continue growing at 10.7% annually to US$85 billion in 2025.
Feb 19, 2021
ENVER, May 19, 2021 /PRNewswire/ — Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attacks continue to evolve in complexity, frequency and scale. Lumen Technologies (NYSE: LUMN) tracks and mitigates these threats including the Gafgyt and Mirai botnet families and today the company released its quarterly DDoS report for Q1 2021. This research provides a view of the DDoS landscape with findings that both reinforce and expand on these trends.
Experience the interactive Multichannel News Release here:
https://www.multivu.com/players/English/85243512-lumen-quarterly-ddos-report-q1-2021/
To create the report, the security team at Lumen looked at intelligence from Black Lotus Labs the company’s threat research arm and attack trends from the Lumen DDoS Mitigation Service platform, which integrates countermeasures directly into the company’s extensive and deeply peered global network.
“As organizations’ dependency on applications to generate revenue deepens, many are realizing they can no longer risk foregoing essential DDoS defenses. The information in this report is more evidence of that,” said Mike Benjamin, Lumen vice president of security and Black Lotus Labs. “As IoT DDoS botnets continue to evolve, Lumen is focused on leveraging our visibility to identify and disrupt malicious infrastructure.”
Key Findings:
The attack sizes in the DDoS report convey the largest attacks scrubbed by Lumen global DDoS scrubbing infrastructure, rather than the largest attacks observed transiting the Lumen network.
IoT Botnets:
- Well-known IoT botnets like Gafgyt and Mirai remain serious DDoS threats, with 700 active Command and Control servers (C2s) attacking 28,000 unique victims combined.
- Lumen tracked nearly 3,000 DDoS C2s globally in Q1. The most were hosted in Serbia (1,260), followed by the United States (380) and China (373).
- Of the most active global C2s that Lumen observed issuing attack commands, the United States had the most (163), followed by the Netherlands (73) and Germany (70).
- Lumen tracked more than 160,000 global DDoS botnet hosts. Nearly 42,000 were in the United States the most of any country.
DDoS Attack Trends
- The largest attack Lumen measured by bandwidth scrubbed was 268 Gbps; the largest attack measured by packet rate scrubbed was 26 Mpps.
- The longest DDoS attack period Lumen mitigated for an individual customer lasted almost two weeks.
- Multi-vector mitigations represented 41% of all DDoS mitigations, with the most common using a DNS query flood combined with a TCP SYN flood.
- The top three industries targeted in the 500 largest attacks in 1Q21 were: Finance, Software and Technology, and Government.
Tracking User Diagram Protocol (UDP) Reflectors
- One of the key tools in the hands of cybercriminals seeking to increase the bandwidth of their attacks is UDP-based reflection leveraging services such as Memcached, CLDAP and DNS.
- Through this process, an attacker spoofs a source IP, then uses an intermediary server a reflector to send massive response packets to the victim’s IP rather than back to the attacker.
- Black Lotus Labs leverages the visibility from its extensive global network to identify services potentially being leveraged to launch these types of attacks.
- Based on data from 1Q21, Black Lotus Labs sees Memcached, CLDAP and DNS services being actively exploited today.
- For a more detailed look at UDP reflectors, read the latest Black Lotus Labs blog: Tracking UDP Reflectors for a Safer Internet.
Feb 6, 2021
Development of Lumen platform led to several key product launches in 2020
BUENOS AIRES, Argentina, June 2, 2021 /PRNewswire/ — Lumen Technologies (NYSE: LUMN), is ranked first in the intra-Latin America Network use case in the 2021 Gartner Critical Capabilities Network Services, Global report. Lumen also ranked second (tied) intra-North America network, third Global network, fourth intra-EMEA network and fifth intra-APAC network use cases, in the same report.
Lumen was placed in the Leaders quadrant in the 2021 Magic Quadrant for Network Services for completeness of vision and ability to execute. The complementary 2021 Critical Capabilities for Network Services, Global report provides deeper insight into service offerings by identifying which ones best fit specific “use cases” by region.
Read the 2021 Gartner Critical Capabilities Network Services, Global report: https://www.gartner.com/doc/reprints?id=1-260RI26A&ct=210514&st=sg
“We believe being first-ranked among 19 vendors in the Intra-Latin America Network use case shows the industry recognizes the commitment Lumen has to successfully lead our customers into the 4th Industrial Revolution,” said Hector Alonso, regional president at Lumen LATAM. “We’ve built a platform, powered by network services, that provides the business solutions customers need to acquire, analyze and act on massive amounts of data. Lumen has also been named Leader in the 2021 Gartner Magic Quadrant report. We won’t remain static as a Magic Quadrant Leader; we’re investing in that platform and will continue delivering new product and customer experience improvements.”
Lumen delivered on its vision in 2020 to further human progress through technology with key product solutions on the Lumen platform. Those include:
- Lumen Edge Cloud solutions
- Virtualized network services Adaptive Virtual Services
- An expansion of SD-WAN offerings
- Key enhancements to portal/API capabilities
Through its adaptive networking capabilities, Lumen also quickly and seamlessly met the new demands placed on global businesses during the early stages of the pandemic. As a technology leader, Lumen immediately recognized the shift and leveraged existing capacity on the backbone network, rolling out enhanced work from anywhere solutions with built-in connected security, protecting customers’ data and business continuity.
Additional Resources:
Gartner does not endorse any vendor, product or service depicted in our research publications, and does not advise technology users to select only those vendors with the highest ratings or other designation. Gartner research publications consist of the opinions of Gartner research organization and should not be construed as statements of fact. Gartner disclaims all warranties, expressed or implied, with respect to this research, including any warranties of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose.
Gartner Critical Capabilities for Network Services, Global, Bjarne Munch, Danellie Young, Lisa Pierce,3rd March 2021.
Gartner Magic Quadrant for Network Services, Global, Danellie Young, Neil Rickard, Bjarne Munch,2nd March 2021.
Jan 22, 2021
DENVER, Jan. 21, 2021 /PRNewswire/ — Black Lotus Labs, the threat intelligence arm of Lumen Technologies (NYSE: LUMN), today released a blog that details the team’s research into the recent increase in Ransom Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attacks.
Since the second half of 2020, Black Lotus Labs has observed a disturbing number of entities receiving emails containing the threat of a sustained DDoS attack unless a Bitcoin ransom was paid. The team has observed RDDoS activity before, dating as far back as 2016, but the recent campaigns have been greater in number and duration. In addition, today’s group of cybercriminals often perform a limited attack to prove their capability and malicious intent.
The case studies featured in the blog include RDDoS attacks from an unknown group claiming to be well-established entities including Fancy Bear, The Armada Collective, and Lazarus Group. The blog also dives into attacks from another group calling itself The Kadyrovtsy.
“The increase in RDDoS attacks in 2020 couldn’t have come at a worse time,” said Mike Benjamin, Lumen’s head of Black Lotus Labs. “With so many businesses relying on their internet connectivity during the pandemic, these attacks had an even greater impact on their victims’ operations.”
Benjamin went on to explain his team’s philosophy on paying ransoms. “We recommend never paying the ransom demand, as that only serves as fuel for this illicit business model, and there are no guarantees the criminals will actually stop the attack. The best defense is to utilize a DDoS mitigation service, along with deploying applications across a highly distributed infrastructure.”
For more details about RDDoS and to read these Black Lotus Labs case studies, read the latest blog from Black Lotus Labs.
Nov 26, 2020
Infrastructure expansion and network coverage provide corporate customers greater speed and broadband availability
MÉXICO CITY, Nov. 25, 2020 /PRNewswire/ — To help further human progress through technology and enhance the digital transformation of businesses in need of connectivity, IT infrastructure and presence in the cloud, Lumen Technologies (NYSE: LUMN) has expanded its network infrastructure in México.
Lumen invested in new metropolitan networks with state-of-the-art optical technology to triple the size of the current footprint and bring fiber connectivity to new locations in three cities,
including metropolitan rings of 45 km in Guadalajara, 90 km in Monterrey and 100 km in Mexico City.
“Our interconnected global fiber network is the anchor to the Lumen Platform, the combination of our cloud, security and communications & collaboration services that help our customers excel in this new industrial age,” said Miguel de la Torre, Lumen LATAM Sales Director for the northern cluster. “We understand the importance of expanding and renewing our infrastructure to bring high quality services to our customers through fast and secure connections. This investment also follows the initiatives of the national government to strengthen telecommunication networks in Mexico, increasing its infrastructure and reach more users.”
Lumen’s national ring in Mexico is approximately 3,600 km in length and is joined by international routes in Monterrey.
The Lumen submarine cable system PAC (Pan-American Crossing) also connects Mexico to the city of Los Angeles, CA in the US, and Costa Rica and Panama in Central America.
“Lumen will continue investing in the region to accompany business growth and government initiatives,” said de la Torre. “This underscores our commitment to the development of the industry, not only in Mexico but in the region.”
Nov 8, 2020
BUENOS AIRES, Argentina, Aug. 10, 2020 /PRNewswire/ — Frost & Sullivan awarded CenturyLink, Inc. (NYSE: CTL) its prestigious 2020 Best Practices Award for Innovation Excellence, recognizing CenturyLink for its Unified Communications as a Service (UCaaS) strong performance and effective strategy in the Latin America and Caribbean market.
Points to note from Frost & Sullivan’s analysis:
- Companies are realizing the benefits of cloud-based models, OPEX and CAPEX benefits, the scalability and flexibility that allows organizations to increase or decrease the number of resources consumed on a per-month basis, improved security and reliability, faster deployment times, and low-risk options when experimenting with new technologies.
- The Latin American and Caribbean UCaaS market continues its path to the cloud and is exhibiting double-digit growth rates.
- Digital transformation continues to be a key organizational goal for Latin American businesses, it is crucial to address challenges such as finding suitable, cost-effective network services that can seamlessly integrate the various technology platforms, applications, and services a business uses, especially during the global pandemic.
- Customer expectations currently evolving. Organizations are demanding new and more advanced UC&C capabilities as well as tighter integration between their communications systems and other business applications. Many customers face big decisions when it comes to IT investments that will support their digital transformation and communications initiatives. CenturyLink has significant experience in managing complex hybrid and multi-cloud environments, and many of its deployments include a great deal of premises-based legacy PBX/PSTN services integration, to protect existing investments in enterprise communications systems.
While the negative effects of the expected economic downturn might lead some organizations to postpone investments in ICT solutions, organizations such as CenturyLink, are quickly realizing the importance of having solid cloud-based toolsthese tools allow them to effectively support remote work while improving employee productivity, augmenting business agility, improving employee and customer experience, and accelerating time to market.
“After our in-depth analysis built on a 360-degree research with objective rating of companies in the hosted IP Telephony and UCaaS Latin American and Caribbean market, Frost & Sullivan firmly believes CenturyLink is one of the top providers in a unique position to guarantee those key functionalities and leverage them to fuel both growth and innovation,” said Sebastian Menutti, Industry Principal for Frost & Sullivan. “The company is a digital transformation enabler and advisor for its customers, providing strict SLAs, and owning the customer relationship by providing a single-pane-of-glass IT solution.”
“CenturyLink is committed to partnering with Latin American businesses to achieve their technological goals, helping them surpass this global pandemic challenge and continue on their digital transformation journeys,” said Leonardo Barbero, product senior vice president for CenturyLink Latin America “Enterprises are facing an ever-changing technology landscape, with high-capacity demands, security concerns, and the need to migrate to new platforms. This recognition by Frost & Sullivan validates our efforts to deliver a simple enterprise user experience with sophisticated capabilities and reinforces CenturyLink’s ongoing leadership in delivering a wide range of services that meet our customers’ needs, all while providing a high level of service.”
Key Facts:
- The criteria used to gauge CenturyLink’s performance against competitors in the Innovation Excellence Award category include two key factors: growth performance and innovation.
- CenturyLink’s value-added services, reinforced by its innovative solutions, position the company as a best-in-class leader in Latin America.
- CenturyLink offers a range of services, including Unified Communications and Collaboration, Cloud PBX, SD-WAN, CDN, WAN optimization and network management, all backed by a superior network infrastructure, thereby allowing the company to satisfy the region’s unmet market needs.
- CenturyLink received the 2018 Frost & Sullivan Award for Competitive Strategy Innovation and Leadership in the MPLS/IP-VPN Services Market.
- CenturyLink received the 2018 North America Product Leadership Award from Frost & Sullivan for its Cloud Application Manager platform.
- Frost & Sullivan recognized CenturyLink as the Asia-Pacific Hybrid IT Service Provider of the Year for the fourth consecutive year.
- In 2019 Frost & Sullivan recognized CenturyLink with the Latin American Enterprise Services Provider Company of the Year Award, award also received in 2018 and 2016.
About the Award:
- Frost & Sullivan is an international consulting company dedicated to helping clients accelerate growth and achieve best-in-class positions in innovation and leadership.
- Frost & Sullivan’s Radar is a robust analytical tool that benchmarks companies’ innovation focus and growth performance in a given market.
- Frost & Sullivan industry analysts compare market participants and measure performance through in-depth interviews, analysis, and extensive secondary research to identify best practices.
