BT Counterpane Launches Enhanced Managed Vulnerability Scan Services
New relationship with Qualys introduces state-of-the-art scan technology
Mountain View, CA - September 12, 2007 - BT Counterpane, a premier provider of advanced managed security services, announced today the launch of its enhanced Managed Vulnerability Scanning Service that allows enterprise customers to scan, identify, and remediate vulnerabilities in their critical assets and infrastructure systems, regardless of their location within the customer’s network. The need for enhanced scanning services has been driven by customer demands to protect critical computer systems against threat agents that have, according to security experts, multiplied several fold in the last few years.
With the newly enhanced Managed Vulnerability Scanning Service, customers can take advantage of state-of-the-art scanning technology, while leveraging BT Counterpane’s security experience and expertise to manage the service and integrate it with other BT Counterpane security services. BT Counterpane’s Managed Vulnerability Scanning Service enables organizations with large distributed networks to consolidate management of vulnerability scanning – from discovery to in-depth scan reports. Additionally, the new scanning technology is certified by the PCI Security Standards Council, so customers using the service are assured compliance with account data security requirements.
The Managed Vulnerability Scan Service not only identifies the vulnerabilities of customer systems but also provides detailed remediation information that can help customer administrators fix the root cause of the problem. A key feature of this service is the enhanced dashboard reporting that will be available through the BT Counterpane portal, allowing customers to identify problem areas and spot trends quickly, before vulnerabilities are exploited by threat agents. Customers can also take advantage of BT Counterpane’s proprietary technology to correlate across different scan and IDS vendors, which significantly improves the ability to discard false positives and provide alerts on genuine security threats during security monitoring.
“We’ve enhanced our vulnerability scanning services in response to customers’ ever-increasing demands for network security and vigilant monitoring and protection from vulnerabilities,” explained Doug Howard, chief operating officer, BT Counterpane. “The new scanning services will further ensure that customers’ complex and global IT networks are monitored on a frequent and real-time basis, protected from threats and compliant with Sarbanes-Oxley, PCI and other data privacy mandates and audit requirements.”
BT Counterpane offers two new service options – Premium and Standard – for scanning customers’ data systems and assets, powered by state-of-the-art Qualys scanning technology. The Premium service option is designed for companies that are able to administer the service on their own and wish to take advantage of the high-value features of the service, including asset classification and remediation management. The Standard service option is intended for companies that wish to leverage BT Counterpane’s expertise and experience in security to manage the service and tightly integrate it with BT Counterpane’s infrastructure.
“We are honored that BT Counterpane selected Qualys to integrate with its managed security infrastructure and bring to its customers Qualys’ On Demand Vulnerability Management and Policy Compliance solution,” said Philippe Courtot, chairman and CEO of Qualys. “BT has built a comprehensive and state of the art portfolio of security solutions that, delivered on a global scale, offers organizations a complete solution to their security needs,”
Both service options provide flexibility in scheduling scans and defining targets, including address-specific or address-range coverage options, conditional start-stop time boundaries, customized alert and escalation preferences, trend reports of vendor and security vulnerabilities, and easy web portal access to reports. Internal and external scans can be delivered on demand or at other intervals – for example, weekly, monthly or quarterly, based on each customer’s requirements. As scans are run, designated applications and systems are examined, vulnerabilities are identified and reported, and remedial solutions are recommended to ensure maximum security for customer systems.
The Managed Vulnerability Scanning Service is an integral part of BT Counterpane’s portfolio of security solutions, which includes Managed Security Monitoring, Managed Security Devices, Managed Log Retention, Email and Web Scanning, and Distributed Denial of Service Prevention. This suite of services provides customers with comprehensive security correlation, monitoring and remediation capabilities in real time.
In August, BT Counterpane was named to the Leaders Quadrant in the Managed Security Services Provider Magic Quadrant by leading research and analyst firm, Gartner, Inc.*
- Gartner, Inc., “Magic Quadrant for MSSPs, North America, 1H07” by Kelly M. Kavanagh and John Pescatore, August 1, 2007. The Magic Quadrant is copyrighted 2007 by Gartner, Inc. and is reused with permission. The Magic Quadrant is a graphical representation of a marketplace at and for a specific time period. It depicts Gartner’s analysis of how certain vendors measure against criteria for that marketplace, as defined by Gartner. Gartner does not endorse any vendor, product or service depicted in the Magic Quadrant, and does not advise technology users to select only those vendors placed in the “Leaders” quadrant. The Magic Quadrant is intended solely as a research tool, and is not meant to be a specific guide to action. Gartner disclaims all warranties, express or implied, with respect to this research, including any warranties of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose.
About BT
BT is one of the world’s leading providers of communications solutions and services operating in 170 countries. Its principal activities include networked IT services; local, national and international telecommunications services; higher-value broadband and internet products and services and converged fixed/mobile products and services. BT consists principally of four lines of business: BT Global Services, Openreach, BT Retail and BT Wholesale.
In the year ended 31 March 2007, BT Group plc’s revenue was £20,223 million with profit before taxation of £2,484 million.
British Telecommunications plc (BT) is a wholly-owned subsidiary of BT Group 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.bt.com/aboutbt
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Media Contact:
Tami Casey
Qualys
media@qualys.com