AT&T Expands Security Services

BEDMINSTER, N.J. -- AT&T today announced new managed security services and service enhancements that help business customers and government agencies assess vulnerabilities, protect against unauthorized access, detect attacks and respond to security vulnerabilities across their networks, systems and applications. The services -- AT&T Network-Based Firewall Service, AT&T Enhanced Managed Intrusion Detection Service and AT&T Application Firewall Service -- enable businesses and government agencies to deploy security policies for their networked locations and applications used by their customers, partners, suppliers and employees. They are an integral part of AT&T's extensive security portfolio of firewall, authentication, intrusion detection, management and scanning services.

This means that more than ever before, business customers and government agencies can count on AT&T to provide the secure networking environments that will help them be successful.

The new security services and enhancements are part of a comprehensive suite of AT&T managed security and business continuity services. They represent the latest milestone in AT&T's efforts to deliver next-generation networking solutions to customers, leveraging its core networking expertise.

AT&T's security services are interoperable and integrated with AT&T's family of enterprise networking/Internet Protocol (IP) and hosting services. They are managed using the company's innovative networking management platform, Integrated Global

Enterprise Management System (iGEMS), and augmented by highly-skilled security specialists. Customers can view performance using critical security information provided by AT&T's industry-leading Managed Services Portal. Introduced last year, AT&T Network-Based Firewall Service is now generally available worldwide. The service allows customers to globally leverage their existing Wide Area Network (WAN) investment by installing sophisticated security features directly into AT&T's network, providing a common gateway to the Internet.

With AT&T Network Based Firewall Service, customers can apply a common set of security policies across many locations, with a continuous inspection of inbound and outbound traffic, and treatment of traffic according to client- defined security policies. The service also establishes enterprise Permanent Virtual Circuits (ePVCs), secure private connections between their company WAN and that of their customers or vendors.

Dynamic Uniform Resource Locater filtering, Simple Mail Transfer Protocol traffic scanning are just some of the options that customers can select to support their business-specific security policies.

Combined with globally available AT&T Premises-Based Firewall Services, customers can deploy specific security policies for a particular location, in addition to the common policies delivered by the network-based firewall. "Business customers relying on AT&T no longer have to manage their Internet traffic or the construction and administration of the firewalls, filters, patches, servers, screening applications and anti-virus software required to secure Internet access in today's open environment," said Eric Shepcaro, who leads applications services product management for AT&T. "AT&T provides the infrastructure and skilled security experts that enable customers to improve their networking environments."

AT&T Enhanced Managed Intrusion Detection Service augments the company's existing intrusion detection services in several key areas. Anomalies are correlated and analyzed by profiling and baselining a customer's activity occurring at each intrusion sensor.

Using a proprietary AT&T Labs-developed capability, AT&T normalizes intrusion sensor alarms into a database of alerts based on the profiled customer activity. This enables AT&T to implement a customer-specific intrusion alert response and mitigation solution.

Leveraging correlation techniques, AT&T's Enhanced Managed Intrusion Detection Service also compares multiple events occurring at the same time and/or present events to past events. AT&T security professionals quickly pinpoint the likely source of the intrusion and isolate the attack. The service also includes forensic analysis and offers security improvement recommendations.

AT&T Enhanced Managed Intrusion Detection Service offers both network- based and host-based service, with coverage in over 100 countries worldwide. It is the same service AT&T uses to protect its own global network. Its advanced proprietary technologies detect possible malicious activity and eliminate unauthorized activity in real time.

Available to AT&T Managed Services customers with applications in AT&T Internet Data Centers, AT&T Application Firewall Service prevents inappropriate transactions from penetrating an application by continuously examining transactions against dynamic policies. It supports multiple IP connectivity options up to Gigabit Ethernet (1 GigE).

Like other managed security services, AT&T Application Firewall Service is a fully managed capability that includes hardware/software provisioning, testing, installation, and around-the-clock management with reporting added to the client portal. AT&T is the first to offer this managed capability.

The new services and enhancements announced today reflect AT&T's commitment to and established reputation in the security industry, as both a security leader and innovator, protecting its own information technology and networking infrastructure on which its business and many customers' businesses rest. Leveraging experienced professionals and comprehensive security practices, AT&T can help customers design, deploy, manage and evolve a security solution that supports their business requirements.

AT&T Corp.