Case Study

Transforming application security: How UST helped a global telco transform application security and reduce daily threats by 92%

A telecom leader, facing ever-evolving security threats and growing system demands, wanted to overhaul its approach to application security. Through proactive monitoring, automations, and a strategic streamlining of security tools, UST helped the company reduce daily vulnerabilities by 92%.

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Post-info

CLIENT

Founded nearly 30 years ago, this multinational telecommunications holding company now operates well-known cellular service providers across Europe and North America. The company employs over 70,000 people globally and serves nearly 115 million customers.

CHALLENGE

Navigating high stakes—Tackling critical security and operational challenges

Our client was at a crossroads. Daily security scan failures and application errors plagued their systems, significantly increasing the risk of security breaches while severely disrupting normal operations. To compound the situation, their legacy systems were burdened with high false positive rates from static application security testing (SAST) tools that hampered developer productivity and efforts to achieve a robust software security posture. These issues put the company at significant risk for operational disruptions, highlighting the urgent need for a solution to stabilize, secure, and transform its application environment.

TRANSFORMATION

Shifting from manual efforts to automated processes

UST helped the company transition from reactive, stop-gap measures to a proactive application security framework—marking a fundamental shift in operational strategy. These critical changes transformed the company's approach to security and improved operational outcomes:

Proactive security monitoring and analysis— reduced scan failure rates of application error logs dramatically
Automated scan failure remediations— decreased human error while freeing IT to focus on more transformative projects.
SAST tool optimizations— drastically decreased the rate of false positive security issues while increasing the identification of critical security vulnerabilities.
New issue archival processes— eliminated 67% of system issues, resulting in 2.5 million less issues, which streamlined operations and significantly reduced manual work hours.

IMPACT

Cut daily security vulnerabilities 92%, enabling the company to maintain leadership position

UST’s multipronged, proactive approach to security decreased system vulnerabilities by 92% while fortifying the company’s defenses against cyber threats. The strengthened security posture elevated customer trust, improved the company's competitive position, enhanced its reputation, and delivered these substantial business benefits :

Greater operational agility—The shift to automated security remediation and proactive monitoring protocols dramatically reduced manual interventions and minimized operational downtime. As a result, the company now can adapt more quickly to market changes, improve service delivery and customer satisfaction, and boost market share.
Financial improvements—By strategically streamlining its security tool set, particularly after significant mergers, the company saved approximately $100,000. This financial prudence enabled the company to reinvest in other operational improvements.
Cultural shift to proactive security operations—With the new proactive approach, focusing on automating, optimizing, and streamlining protocols and tools, the company has prioritized accuracy and efficiency over status quo reactive measures to vulnerabilities. Now, the company’s security team can efficiently handle any application workload, ensuring uninterrupted performance.

RESOURCES

https://www.ust.com/en/industries/tmt-telecom

https://www.ust.com/en/boundless/boundless-stories/partnership-introduction

https://www.ust.com/en/what-we-do/digital-transformation/managed-security-services