BT has launched its cloud-based Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) Mitigation service. The multi-national says it’s to help organisations stay secure and ensure continuity of service amid a growing number of threats and attacks.
BT’s ‘Cloud of Clouds’ security capabilities were unveiled to analysts, customers and BT employees during the opening of BT’s global security showcase in Sevenoaks in Kent, on September 23. The new facility has cyber security specialists and offers demonstrations. BT say that its ‘Cloud of Clouds’ technology vision is based on a new generation of cloud services that allow organisations to connect securely to the applications and the data they need, independently of where they are hosted.
After rolling out robust authentication services into the cloud through its BT Assure Cloud Identity access management service, and embedding firewall security into the network via BT Assure Cloud Firewall, the company is now adding global cloud-based capabilities for organisations to mitigate growing risks of DDoS attacks.
BT says that its own research shows that 41 per cent of organisations globally were hit by DDoS attacks during the course of 2014, with three quarters of those (78 per cent) targeted twice or more in the year.
The DDoS mitigation technologies work by ‘cleaning’ the internet traffic, and sorting through the normal and malicious requests. The firm has a single platform for detection and mitigation. This means rogue traffic can be detected automatically and action taken to protect a network.
By using a cloud-based solution, the DDoS attack is mitigated before it hits the customer’s network and, in some cases, even before it enters the BT network.
Mark Hughes, CEO, BT Security, says: “Security is at the very top of the agenda for CIOs, and business leaders in general, when they look at leveraging the opportunities of the cloud. The risks associated with cloud computing are another business risk to be managed through robust governance practices, and those risks increase as organisations embrace cloud services hosted outside of their own estate. Our vision of the ‘Cloud of Clouds’ brings security to the heart of BT’s cloud services integration offer. Our global network already has very strong security features, including firewall services embedded throughout. Our cloud identity management solution ensures appropriate access for employees, customers and partners to the cloud or on premise applications irrespective of their location.”
