The release will support the GPRS Tunneling Protocol (GTP v1 Rel 99), the previous GX software having supported a pre-standard version of GTP. Check Point rival NetScreen Technologies Inc announced its support for the protocol a month ago. The firewall can inspect the content of data traveling over GTP, allowing decisions to be made based on the source and destination, protecting handset-to-handset communications, director of product marketing Greg Smith said.
He added that GX can be used to prevent a new type of overbilling prank attack, in which a 3G subscriber initiates a data stream from a server she controls, then disconnects in the hope that another user connects and is allocated the same IP address, thus being charged for the data transfer they didn’t request.
Check Point, which has a very close relationship with Nokia Corp, says it has almost 10 carriers using GX firewalls, mostly in Europe where GPRS uptake is in a more advanced stage than it is in the US. It tends to be installed at network peering points.
Source: Computerwire
