AT&T Secure E-mail Gateway Service Helps Protect Against E-mail Security Threats

DALLAS, May 17 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- As spam and other e-mail security threats continue to inundate organizations' daily operations and compliance regulations continue to grow more complex, AT&T* has announced a new network-based solution, AT&T Secure E-mail Gateway Service. This new "Security as a Service" (SaaS) solution provides e-mail security and message management by ensuring the integrity of a message before it enters an organization's network and helping to monitor and act on all outbound e-mail containing content that violates data loss prevention policies.

AT&T, a leader in managed cloud based security, has been delivering integrated carrier grade security to customers of all sizes, including virtualized firewall, intrusion detection and prevention, URL filtering, content filtering, and Distributed Denial of Service protection. As a result of a new agreement with McAfee (NYSE: MFE), AT&T Secure E-mail Gateway Service combines McAfee global threat intelligence technology with the benefits of the AT&T Global IP Network and AT&T's experience in managed service delivery for customers throughout the world.

This new e-mail security service integrates McAfee's e-mail protection technology and global threat intelligence into AT&T's network gateway nodes to deliver enhanced SaaS capabilities. Customers can easily manage and administer the service through the award-winning AT&T BusinessDirect(SM) customer portal that enables customers to perform a multitude of network management and administrative tasks quickly and securely. 

Security threats are escalating for businesses and organizations of all sizes, including increased volumes of spam. In fact, there were on average 135.5 billion spam messages sent per day in 2009, according to a recent threat report by McAfee Labs.(i)

The key features of AT&T Secure E-Mail Gateway Service are:

• Protects against internal and external e-mail threats that include: commercial spam, malicious attachments, direct e-mail server connections from spammers and botnet-controlled endpoints, and e-mail embedded URL-based attacks and more, before they ever reach the customer's network
• Enables monitoring and quick action on outbound e-mail containing content that violates policies
• Provides features, tools, and reporting capabilities that enable compliance with data privacy and retention regulations, legal discovery requirements, economically and efficiently
• Offers protected, accessible, archived e-mail with no hardware to buy, no software to install, no tape backups, and no maintenance to perform

"We're focused on providing our customers of all sizes the solutions they need to combat today's evolving cyber security threats through our network-based approach to fully managed network security services," said Bill O'Hern, Assistant Vice President, Technology Security, AT&T Business Solutions. "With this new AT&T Secure E-mail Gateway Service, our customers can ensure the integrity of a message before it even enters their network.  In addition, the solution helps to meet compliance regulations as unwanted content is blocked and sensitive content can be encrypted with this service."

Working together in an expanded relationship, AT&T and McAfee are focused on providing managed security services that help provide an up-to-date response to security threats. The relationship provides AT&T customers access to the most innovative security software available today, removing the complexity of learning new technologies while benefiting from quick access and faster time to market through the managed approach AT&T provides.

"This strategic relationship with AT&T underscores the importance of delivering comprehensive security solutions, enabling us to drive even more complete and integrated IT solutions to enterprises across the world," said Marc Olesen, SVP and General Manager, McAfee Software-as-a-Service.  "Our next-generation cloud capabilities, combined with AT&T's experience in managed service delivery, help improve our customer's investments and security posture."

AT&T Secure E-mail Gateway Service is the newest offering from AT&T's portfolio of security services and is implemented, managed and hosted within the highly secure boundaries of AT&T's Internet Data Centers worldwide. This new service replaces previous AT&T's Secure E-mail Gateway solution, and AT&T will be working with its customers to migrate to this new platform.

AT&T delivers a suite of security and business continuity services to help assess vulnerabilities, protect infrastructure, detect attacks and respond to suspicious activities and events. More information on AT&T's managed security offerings can be found at www.att.com/security.

*AT&T products and services are provided or offered by subsidiaries and affiliates of AT&T Inc. under the AT&T brand and not by AT&T Inc.

About AT&T

AT&T Inc. (NYSE: T) is a premier communications holding company. Its subsidiaries and affiliates – AT&T operating companies – are the providers of AT&T services in the United States and around the world. With a powerful array of network resources that includes the nation's fastest 3G network, AT&T is a leading provider of wireless, Wi-Fi, high speed Internet and voice services. A leader in mobile broadband, AT&T also offers the best wireless coverage worldwide, offering the most wireless phones that work in the most countries.  It also offers advanced TV services under the AT&T U-verse(SM) and AT&T |DIRECTV(SM) brands. The company's suite of IP-based business communications services is one of the most advanced in the world. In domestic markets, AT&T Advertising Solutions and AT&T Interactive are known for their leadership in local search and advertising. In 2010, AT&T again ranked among the 50 Most Admired Companies by FORTUNE® magazine. 

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(i)  McAfee Threats Report: Fourth Quarter 2009, http://www.mcafee.com/us/local_content/reports/threats_2009Q4_final.pdf

SOURCE AT&T Inc.