MCI To Offer New Protection Against Denial-Of-Service Attacks

MCI/WorldCom Monday unveiled a new service level agreement (SLA) to help IP services customers thwart and defend against Internet viruses and threats.

The new SLA is focused on Denial of Service (DoS) attacks and is extended immediately for free to all current customers of the telecommunications company, according to MCI. It ensures that all MCI Internet customers will have immediate access to the company's security staff to help them rapidly address and mitigate DoS attacks.

"MCI's experience operating IP networks, along with its advanced network monitoring and management capabilities enable the company to provide the strongest security defense for our customers," said Sara Santarelli, MCI vice president of network security. "Our new SLA gives customers greater peace of mind."

According to Santarelli, MCI will guarantee a response to suspected DoS attacks within 15 minutes of a customer-generated trouble-ticket through MCI Customer Support. She noted that MCI's security team will work "hand-in-hand" with customers to determine and implement necessary steps to mitigate threats quickly and painlessly.

The new SLA was expected to be applied across all MCI IP services, including dedicated and remote Internet access; IP VPN dedicated and remote hosting; and Internet Colocation, shared and single-server dedicated hosting.Last year, Ashburn, Va.-based MCI received two key SANS Institute Information Security Leadership Awards in the Internet Service Provider category -- an award for leadership in mitigating DoS and Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attacks against customers, and an award for leadership in rapid response to worm activity for its work in halting the CodeRed and SQLSlammer worms.