AT&T Launches Managed Endpoint Security Offerings

After years of dabbling in managed VPN services, telecommunications giant AT&T made a bold foray into security this week, introducing two new services to help enterprise customers thwart attacks.

The first service, dubbed AT&T Internet Protect, was designed to inform customers about potential threats before they become full-blown attacks. The second, titled AT&T Personal Firewall, was aimed at protecting remote workstations and laptops, and incorporates a software product from security vendor Zone Labs.

Together, these capabilities help businesses secure every their networks at the firewalls and the endpoints. According to Eric Shepcaro, AT&T's vice president of emerging services, the new services coupled with AT&T's managed VPN services establish the carrier as a formidable Managed Security Services Provider (MSSP).

"We believe...this type of proactive incident management capabilities [are what] businesses expect from an [MSSP]," he said. "[We strive] to deliver high-value solutions to address the most critical security challenges facing business today."

Specifically, the AT&T Internet Protect will focus on intrusion detection, while AT&T Personal Firewall will center on firewall services.Under the Internet Protect service, AT&T will alert businesses through a secure Web portal to potential threats within minutes of identifying critical malicious activity. The Bedminster, N.J., vendor recently formed a team of 350 security analysts to identify and pinpoint potential worms, viruses, Denial of Service (DoS) attacks and other threats.

The service will be based on a standard Service Level Agreement. If AT&T fails to notify a customer of a network-based Denial of Service (DoS) attack before the customer reports it to AT&T, the customer will be credited charges for the month's service, Shepcaro said.

With the AT&T Personal Firewall, the carrier will offer business customers policy compliance services for firewall, anti-virus, and software patch management. Based upon the Zone Labs Integrity software from Zone Labs, San Francisco, the service automatically blocks security threats by proactively protecting remote employee workstations, and centralizes management tools for the control of all remote network endpoints.

Paul Weinstein, vice president of strategic alliances at Zone Labs, said the service also gives customers control over applications operating on employee machines. "Customers want to deploy this kind of endpoint security, but they don't have the resources," he said. "If AT&T can duplicate the success they've had in the managed VPN business, this will be huge."

The AT&T Personal Firewall was expected to be available immediately to channel partners with customers of AT&T's Virtual Tunnel Service (AVTS), Broadband Single User VPN service, and Business Internet Service (BIS) service.The AT&T Internet Protect was expected to be available immediately to all channel partners. Shepcaro noted that later this year the service will feature real-time mitigation of security threats, as well.

Article appears courtesy of CRN.