BT simplifies threat monitoring for organisations

By Phumeza Tontsi for BT
Johannesburg, 24 Jun 2014

Mark Hughes

BT today announced a major upgrade to its BT Assure Threat Monitoring service, making it simpler for organisations and security analysts to identify and protect against security threats.

BT Assure Threat Monitoring collects and analyses huge amounts of data, and its newest upgrade will now display it for users on a customisable screen. By immediately seeing potential issues, security professionals can better identify, react and respond to security risks.

The upgrade will be available to existing BT Assure Threat Monitoring customers at no additional cost and is standard for new BT Assure Threat Monitoring customers.

Mark Hughes, President BT Security, said: "Helping our customers to improve their security plans by giving them access to real-time threat information is critical. Organisations are facing a growing number of live, complex and diverse security issues.

"These new enhancements greatly improve both customer and security analyst control and monitoring capabilities by bringing together critical information in one place. This will allow them to focus more of their efforts and creativity on delivering better business outcomes throughout the organisation."

The service's redesigned interface helps users to more accurately assess security concerns that have often prevented organisations from adopting evolving technologies, such as cloud computing and BYOD (bring your own device) solutions.

Additional capabilities with the service include:

* A new built-in rule creation feature, which allows users to customise the views and threats they see quickly in order to adapt and react.
* An integrated ticketing system, providing device/network management, communications and troubleshooting of event-driven incidents by both customers and BT Security Operations Centre analysts.

The service works by gathering intelligence and information from all clients' network devices - ranging from detection and intrusion prevention systems (IDS/IPS), firewalls and routers, to servers, applications, mainframes and PCs. If, for example, a hacker tries to break into the network, the service can detect the attempt and allow users to immediately gain intelligence on the threat and respond in real-time to prevent damage from the attack.

The protection level of the network infrastructure is achieved with the concerted efforts of a global team of BT cyber security experts. Assure Threat Monitoring was successfully used during the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games to perform continuous network monitoring and identify cyber security threats in real-time.

The security offered by Assure Threat Monitoring protects organisations in many sectors of business, and is widely used by banks and financial services companies and other organisations targeted by malicious cyber attacks.

Please see http://www.globalservices.bt.com/uk/en/products/assure_threat_monitoring to learn about this service.

Please click here to view, BT Assure Threat Monitoring Portal v2.

For further information

Enquiries about this news release should be made to the BT Group Newsroom on its 24-hour number: 020 7356 5369. From outside the UK dial (+44) 20 7356 5369. All news releases can be accessed at BT's Web site: http://www.btplc.com/News.

BT is one of the world's leading providers of communications services and solutions, serving customers in more than 170 countries. Its principal activities include the provision of networked IT services globally; local, national and international telecommunications services to its customers for use at home, at work and on the move; broadband, TV and Internet products and services; and converged fixed/mobile products and services. BT consists principally of five lines of business: BT Global Services, BT Business, BT Consumer, BT Wholesale and Openreach.

For the year ended 31 March 2014, BT Group's reported revenue was lb18 287 million with reported profit before taxation of lb2 312 million.

British Telecommunications (BT) is a wholly-owned subsidiary of BT Group and encompasses virtually all businesses and assets of the BT Group. BT Group is listed on stock exchanges in London and New York.

For more information, visit www.btplc.com.

BT Security

BT Security is building on 70 years' experience of helping organisations around the globe and across all sectors get ahead of the threat curve and reduce the uncertainty and complexity of security. BT Security provides an end-to-end capability to help organisations enjoy higher levels of security at a time when security budgets are not keeping pace with the threat landscape.

The sophistication of BT Security's security operations means that it thinks about the assets, the people, and the processes, and combines these with both network and security intelligence to help its customers stay ahead of the security risks. BT Security protects both BT and its customers. These customers are advised by a global team of 1 300 security practitioners, 600 global security specialists and a professional services team of approximately 4 000.

The BT Security Assure portfolio covers:

* Assure Managed Firewall
* Assure Web Security
* Assure Intrusion Prevention
* Assure Message Scan
* Assure Denial of Service Mitigation
* Assure Cyber
* Assure Managed Cloud
* Assure Threat Monitoring
* Assure Vulnerability Scanning

To find out more about BT Security, visit www.bt.com/btassure/securitythatmatters.

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BT simplifies threat monitoring for organisations

Powerful upgrade to security monitoring services will make it easier for customers to identify and combat cyber security threats.