Highlights cybersecurity needs of small- and medium-sized businesses
AT&T this week completed its acquisition of threat intelligence specialist AlienVault, which the carrier announced back in July. With the deal done, AlienVault CEO Barmak Meftah will retain that role while taking on responsibilities as president of AT&T Cybersecurity Solutions. Meftah reports to AT&T Business CEO Thaddeus Arroyo.
AlientVault uses open-source software and crowd sourced data by way of its Open Threat Exchange for threat detection, incident response and compliance. AT&T will integrate those solutions into its enterprise security portfolio. Meftah said the combination will make “near real-time threat information actionable and achievable.”
Since announcing the acquisition, AT&T has emphasized the small- and medium-sized enterprise segment as needed the same quality cybersecurity solutions as larger companies. Arroyo continued that in a statement: “Whether big, small or somewhere in between, all organization are now targets of the types of sophisticated cyberattacks that have bombarded large enterprises for years. AlienVault’s cybersecurity talent and threat intelligence capabilities, combined with our ability to deliver innovative threat detection and response solutions at scale, will help enable businesses of all sizes to better defend themselves.”
On the heels of the acquisition announcement, VP of Cybersecurity Danessa Lambdin explained to RCR Wireless News that threat intelligence is “the analysis of data, information and insights on both internal and external threats to provide targeted detection and actionable guidance to effectively respond to cyber threats. Our collective vision is to democratize threat intelligence for the masses—to gather and share relevant, timely and accurate information about new or ongoing cyber attacks as quickly as possible. Threat intelligence is [a] key component of an organization’s risk management strategy to help improve enterprise defenses holistically and systematically.”
