Using technologies from partners and data from its global network, AT&T has launched a service to thwart denial-of-service (DoS)
“We’ve put the platforms in place and now we’re building out the products,”
Stan Quintana, an AT&T vice president of network services, told
internetnews.com.
At the center of the new offering is the Bedminster, N.J., carrier’s DDoS
Defense option, which is now available to large U.S. companies and
U.S.-based multi-national organizations. Pricing varies depending on whether
customers want a shared or proprietary environment.
DDoS Defense diverts suspect traffic without disrupting approved
transactions. AT&T has integrated it with AT&T Internet Protect, a tool
introduced three months ago to predict developing network intrusion threats
and alert customers.
AT&T said Internet Protect has seen early success, identifying harbingers of the Sasser
worm weeks before it was fully launched: it was able
to warn hundreds of customers and recommend solutions, which could be
executed through a secure Web portal.
Quintana said security is an essential consideration for large organizations
doing business online, such as retailers, financial services providers and
federal government agencies.
A 2003 Computer Security Institute/FBI study found that enterprises and
government agencies cited DoS attacks as the second most expensive computer
crime, costing them $65.6 million. The average enterprise loss from a DoS
attack was more than $1.4 million, the study said.
The new anti-DoS tool is based on technology from Arbor Networks. The
privately held, Lexington, Mass., firm’s Peakflow SP Managed Services product was introduced last week in order to make it easier for carriers and ISPs to detect
network breaches. Network operator MCI is a Peakflow SP customer.
Network equipment giant Cisco Systems , which has also
been making a security push, also contributed to the offering, providing
the products that “scrub” infected traffic.
Quintana said AT&T will release additional network-based tools to mitigate
worms and viruses later this year.
The network security offering is the latest step in AT&T’s strategy to transform itself from a carrier of consumer long-distance calls to a provider of IP services for enterprises.
In other AT&T news, the company signed a two-year contract renewal
with Group SEB, a Paris-based maker of non-stick cookware. Under the $7.5
million deal, AT&T will continue to provide a managed IP Virtual Private
Network
Groupe SEB has 60 facilities and hundreds of traveling personnel across
Europe, Middle East and Africa, the United States, Canada, Latin America,
China and Asia-Pacific.
