BT Assure: Intelligence And Innovation For The New Security Reality

LONDON, April 24, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- BT today announced innovations to its BT Assure security portfolio which are designed to help organizations better address a wide array of security issues and protect the trust required for business to be successful. These innovations focus on the risks posed by the growing presence of personal devices on corporate networks, the large scale deployment of cloud solutions and the challenges of 'big data', the large amounts of unstructured data inherent in contemporary commerce.

An exclusive survey of more than 2,000 users and decision makers across 11 countries shows that risks to business are moving too fast for a purely reactive security approach to be successful. The BT "Rethink the Risk" research results also demonstrate that the traditional secure outer perimeter of enterprise networks no longer exists and confirms that specific tools are required to measure, understand and address this new security reality.

According to the research, cybersecurity threats, accidental or intentional employee data loss and increasing use of personal devices on employers networks are the three biggest security risks perceived by IT decision-makers. In particular, BYOD (BYOD = Bring Your Own Device) is making progress within the corporate environment, with 60 per cent of employees using personal devices for work, with especially high usage in countries such as China and India (92 per cent and 80 per cent).

The BT research also shows that 82 per cent of companies say they already allow BYOD or will do within the next 24 months. The adoption of BYOD brings to light new security issues. Four out of ten companies have experienced security breaches due to people bringing in unauthorized devices. Of those companies that do have a BYOD policy, security was by far the biggest challenge (74 per cent). Interestingly, the board and senior management are the second largest group of people demanding BYOD, just behind IT people and power users.

In order to help Chief Security Officers and Chief Information Officers rethink the risk, BT is today launching a number of innovations to its BT Assure portfolio.

• Assure Secure Web offers offer customers a uniform web access policy for all remote devices, whether employee- or company-owned, with one single, centralized and instantly updatable view, global reporting, and role-based control, so there is no need to reach each device individually.
• Assure Analytics brings to life in real-time the potential threats and outcomes faced by businesses, helping them make the right decisions for effective policies. This is made possible by BT's ground-breaking data analytics and visualization system. The system learns as it runs, giving businesses the simple, integrated information they want, when they want it, and leveraging any kind of relevant source of data. It enables better decision-making about effectiveness of policy, internal or external usage of resources and typical threat/attacker profiles, all in real-time.
• Assure Cyber offers a higher-touch, more controls-oriented approach to security incident and event management (SIEM), allowing for analysis and reports that are fully interactive and customizable, streamlining incident response and simplifying lessons to be learned.
• Mobility Lifecycle Management covers employee- or company-owned devices, with granular access rules, role-based usage, remote wipe, and cloud updates. It establishes a framework touching large populations of mobile devices.
• Assure Evaluator allows customers and prospects to see how their state of security readiness compares to typical enterprises, and helps steer them towards the areas of most pressing concern. The evaluator assesses the three elements of security; people, processes and technology. The output of the eValuator provides customers with a detailed view of their readiness in key areas which will help them to prioritize their security spend and activities.

Jeff Kelly, CEO of BT Global Services, said: "The best companies understand that commerce is ultimately a trust relationship. Technical ecosystems can however sometimes fail to meet their ambitions, challenging the trust between companies, their customers, and their supporting players. Our customers face new opportunities to proactively lead with security, placing security firmly in the heart of the boardroom. By promoting intelligence and innovation through our BT Assure portfolio, we help our customers to identify, implement and deliver security where it matters most, building it into the heart of the organization rather than just bolting it on. Trust needs to be backed by a continuous investment program in skilled people, as well as state of the art global infrastructure and security management systems. This is definitely the time to rethink the risk."

A summary of the Rethink the Risk research and details on the BT Assure portfolio are available at www.bt.com/btassure/securitythatmatters

About BT

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 and internet products and services and converged fixed/mobile products and services. BT consists principally of four lines of business: BT Global Services, BT Retail, BT Wholesale and Openreach.

In the year ended 31 March 2011, BT Group's revenue was 20,076m pounds Sterling with profit before taxation of 1,717m pounds.

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

For more information, visit www.btplc.com

SOURCE BT