Briefing Room

AT&T to Offer First Carrier-Provided, Two Factor Encryption Service for Smartphones

AT&T Encrypted Mobile Voice Service uses Powerful Combination of Hardware and Software to Enable Voice Calls with High-Level Security

 

DALLAS, Oct. 6 /PRNewswire/ — AT&T* today launched AT&T Encrypted Mobile Voice, the first carrier-provided two factor encryption service, which provides high-level security features for calls on the AT&T wireless network. The service is targeted at government agencies, law enforcement organizations, financial services institutions and international businesses.

According to ABI Research, as smartphone distribution among the mobile business customer base increases, mobile phone security features will become more prominent, particularly among mid- and large-size company employees. Smartphone penetration among mobile business customers in the United States is expected to increase from about 28% to about 45% by 2014(1). And in a survey conducted by AT&T in June, three out of four executives are concerned about how the use of mobile networks/devices could potentially impact security.(2)

AT&T Encrypted Mobile Voice combines KoolSpan’s TrustChip® and SRA International’s One Vault Voice™ into the first carrier-provided two-factor encryption solution. TrustChip is a fully hardened, self-contained crypto engine inserted into the smartphone’s microSD slot. Embedded with AT&T TrustGroup, the KoolSpan TrustChip offers the strength of additional hardware authentication, enables encrypted calling interoperability with a defined group of other AT&T TrustGroup users and can be managed over-the-air.

SRA’s One Vault Voice integrates the security functions of the TrustChip with a feature rich application that provides an intuitive user interface. This powerful combination allows users to easily place and receive encrypted calls by integrating with the mobile phone’s standard operation and address book to provide a user friendly and seamless security option. This on-demand security function delivers mutual authentication and end-to-end encryption to enable a high-level security call mode.

“With the adoption of smartphone use in government and businesses, it’s clear that the security ecosystem requires an approach that incorporates both wired and wireless,” said Ed Amoroso, Chief Security Officer, AT&T. “We’re continuously working to stay ahead of evolving technologies and threats, and have a specialized team within AT&T Labs that is dedicated to investigating security challenges in the wireless space. AT&T Encrypted Mobile Voice is the product of such innovation.”

“Year over year, the cost of compromised data and operational security threats has increased dramatically,” said Pat Burke, SRA Senior Vice President of Offerings and Products. “These threats have elevated cyber security as a strategic priority for both business and government organizations worldwide.”

“This solution was designed to address these very requirements,” said Tony Fascenda, KoolSpan Chief Executive Officer. “We help resolve the privacy and national security concerns of our customers by using standard smartphones on public networks to create secure calls globally.”

AT&T Encrypted Mobile Voice supports BlackBerry® smartphones and Windows® Phones on the AT&T wireless network. Unlike other encrypted voice systems, AT&T Encrypted Mobile Voice is not limited by availability of legacy Circuit Switched Data coverage and can operate in the over 190 countries globally where AT&T provides data roaming.

AT&T Encrypted Mobile Voice meets the government information classification standards for Controlled Unclassified Information, offering The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) FIPS – 140-2 validation.

Today, AT&T delivers some of the most powerful weapons to combat cybersecurity attacks. AT&T’s network security solutions rely on three key ingredients: a scalable, reliable global IP network; security experts with in-depth, hands-on experience; and the innovation and research of AT&T Labs. 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 AT&T Security & Business Continuity.

National Cyber Security Alliance Marks Beginning of National Cyber Security Awareness Month

7th Annual National Effort Educates Digital Citizenry

WASHINGTON,  Oct. 1 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ — The National Cyber Security Alliance (NCSA), a public-private partnership focused on educating a digital citizenry to stay safe and secure online, reminds all Americans that today marks the beginning of the 7th Annual National Cyber Security Awareness Month.  National Cyber Security Awareness Month is a coordinated effort of the NCSA, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, and The Multi-State Information Sharing and Analysis Center (MSISAC) and a myriad of companies, educational institutions, nonprofit organizations and individuals throughout the nation focused on improving online safety and security awareness and education for U.S. citizens and businesses.

From a personal, business and governmental perspective, our nation’s reliance on the Internet continues to grow.  The NCSA is focused on helping American citizens, businesses and students understand how to protect themselves, their families, customers and communities with universal safe and secure online behaviors.  

“Our nation’s online health is critical to our economic prosperity and national security,” said Michael Kaiser, executive director of the NCSA.  “The highest levels of government and industry have recognized the role that cybersecurity and cyber safety play in our nation’s ability to stay competitive and innovative. National Cyber Security Awareness Month provides a cyber education foundation that all Americans can use throughout the year.”

The NCSA urges all Americans to employ a handful of simple online safety behaviors:

  • Employ comprehensive security suites that include anti-virus, firewall, anti-Spyware and anti-Spam software.  Most importantly, set your security software to automatically update.
  • Back up your files and data on a regular basis to mitigate any losses in the event of a security failure.
  • Only use secure wireless connections that require passwords or other forms of security.

 

“In this digital age, we are all connected, and each of us plays an important role in securing cyber space,” said William Pelgrin, MS-ISAC chair and president and CEO of the Center for Internet Security.  “We are pleased to once again join our partners in co-sponsoring National Cyber Security Awareness Month to help raise awareness across government, businesses, educators and citizens about cyber safety. Working together, we can improve our nation’s cyber security preparedness.”

Anyone - families, employers, consumers, teachers, and students - interested in online safety is encouraged to access the National Cyber Security Awareness Month Web portal. The Web site hosts an abundance of online safety resources and information including tip sheets, ideas for how to get involved, events, and additional awareness resources to help organizations and individuals participate in National Cyber Security Awareness Month.

The portal offers printable materials for schools, businesses, government agencies, law enforcement and consumers as well as electronic materials for organizations to incorporate on their own websites. All NCSA materials are free to the public and there is no cost for endorsements or event listings.  Of the many resources on the site you will find:

  • Tip Sheets: For online gaming, mobile devices, social networking and general Internet safety tips for parents and kids.
  • Customizable Posters: A National Cyber Security Awareness Month poster that can be customized with a company or association logo or a message to help promote local activities.
  • Endorsement Forms: Organizations, companies, and government agencies are encouraged to endorse National Cyber Security Awareness Month, which is made easy through an online endorsement form. Endorsers can be featured with their logo and web link on NCSA’s website.
  • Event Calendar: The NCSA keeps a calendar of events taking place during October that focus on cybersecurity awareness and education. Organizations are welcome to submit events through NCSA’s online form to be included on the October calendar.

 

“We have offered a wide variety of opportunities to learn more about cybersecurity and cybersafety,” said Shannon Kellogg, senior director of public policy at EMC and chairman of the NCSA Board of Directors.  “All of us need to make a personal investment to continually learn how to keep ourselves and our nation’s online defenses safe and secure.”

About The National Cyber Security Alliance

The National Cyber Security Alliance is a nonprofit organization. Through collaboration with the government, corporate, non-profit and academic sectors, the mission of the NCSA is to empower a digital citizenry to use the Internet securely and safely protecting themselves and the technology they use and the digital assets we all share. NCSA works to create a culture of cyber security and safety through education and awareness activities. Visit www.staysafeonline.org for more information.  NCSA board members include: ADP, AT&T, EMC Corporation, Cisco Systems, General Dynamics Advanced Information Systems, Google, Lockheed Martin Information Systems & Global Services, McAfee, Microsoft, PayPal, Science Applications International Corporation (SAIC), Symantec, Verizon and Visa.

About National Cyber Security Awareness Month

National Cyber Security Awareness month now in its seventh year is a coordinated effort of the National Cyber Security Alliance, The Department of Homeland Security (DHS), and The Multi-State Information Sharing and Analysis Center (MSISAC).

Oracle Buys Passlogix

Oracle Buys Passlogix

Adds Enterprise Single Sign-on and Network Authentication Capabilities to Oracle Identity Management Suite

Redwood Shores, CA – Oct. 5, 2010

News Facts

• Oracle has agreed to acquire Passlogix, a leading provider of enterprise single sign-on (ESSO) solutions.

• The acquisition expands a successful OEM relationship, and will provide deeper integration with Oracle.

• Passlogix products help organizations improve and simplify security by enabling SSO for a broad range of applications including client-server, mainframe and web-based applications.

• The combination provides enterprises with a complete identity management solution to further advance their identity management, compliance and authentication initiatives with even tighter integration capabilities.

• Passlogix products have been selected by marquee companies across multiple industries including Communications, Financial Services, Government, Healthcare, and Retail.

• The transaction is expected to close this year. 

• Financial details of the transaction were not disclosed.

Supporting Quotes

• “Driven by regulatory mandates, organizations are being pressured to provide stronger authentication mechanisms while reducing the number of passwords required,” said Amit Jasuja, vice president, Oracle Identity Management. “Passlogix and Oracle have had a successful OEM relationship for more than three years and have many of the same customers. With the addition of Passlogix, we expect to provide a complete enterprise-scale identity management solution and be able to provide more global reach and support resources to customers.”

• “Passlogix and Oracle have a shared vision on providing customers with an integrated solution that helps advance and improve security for the entire identity lifecycle,” said Marc Boroditsky, Passlogix president and CEO. “Passlogix’ products already integrate with Oracle Identity Manager, Oracle Access Manager and Oracle Internet Directory and we look forward to expanding the scope of our solutions and making them available to a broader audience.”

 

Supporting Resources

• About Oracle and Passlogix

• General Presentation

• FAQ

• Customer Letter

• Partner Letter

Equifax Acquires Anakam

Combination Will Provide Industry-leading Portfolio of Online Identification and Authentication Solutions

ATLANTA, Oct. 4 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ — Equifax Inc. (NYSE: EFX) announced today it has acquired Anakam®, Inc., a leader in large-scale, software-based, multi-factor authentication solutions and recognized recently by Inc. magazine as one of the fastest-growing private companies in America.  Terms of the transaction, which the companies completed October 1, were not disclosed. 

The global identity management market, spurred by increases in online commerce and information sharing, has become a large and growing market.  With the combination of Anakam’s Identity Suite® and Equifax’s eIDverifier service, the company will be able to provide an industry-unique single, integrated platform for two-factor identification as well as no-touch, risk-based identity verification and identity proofing.  

Anakam has focused on industries, including government and healthcare, where traditional solutions have been inadequate in verifying and authenticating large and diverse web users.  The company created a revolutionary authentication platform that is secure, scalable, and easy-to-deploy and use, eliminating the need for hard tokens or the downloading of software.

Founded in 2004, Anakam is headquartered in San Diego, with additional offices in Arlington, VA.  It will become a division of Equifax, and become part of the company’s Technology and Analytical Services organization.

“Leveraging Anakam’s solutions and highly-experienced management team alongside Equifax’s decisioning technology platforms, market presence and financial strength will allow us to broaden our portfolio of solutions in this large and rapidly-growing market,” said Rajib Roy, President, Equifax Technology and Analytical Services. “With Anakam, Equifax will become a premier provider of cloud-based authentication solutions.”

Equifax has been an innovator in identity proofing, verifying more than 60 million identities annually. Anakam’s unique software adds a secure, cost-effective solution that can scale to millions of users while eliminating the need for cards and tokens.

“The acquisition by Equifax marks an exciting new direction, one in which we are jointly taking identity services and trusted business enablement to the next level,” according to Allan Camaisa, President and CEO of Anakam. “Our global customers and prospects are making critical decisions on how to establish trust and reduce fraud as they move their business operations online to eliminate costs, increase efficiency and improve quality. The intellectual property that Equifax and Anakam bring together around a single, integrated platform for identity proofing and multifactor authentication will be a powerful force in the exploding consumer authentication marketplace.”  

About Equifax (www.equifax.com)

Equifax empowers businesses and consumers with information they can trust. A global leader in information solutions, we leverage one of the largest sources of consumer and commercial data, along with advanced analytics and proprietary technology, to create customized insights that enrich both the performance of businesses and the lives of consumers.

With a strong heritage of innovation and leadership, Equifax continuously delivers innovative solutions with the highest integrity and reliability.  Businesses – large and small – rely on us for consumer and business credit intelligence, portfolio management, fraud detection, decisioning technology, marketing tools, and much more.  We empower individual consumers to manage their personal credit information, protect their identity, and maximize their financial well-being.

Headquartered in Atlanta, Equifax Inc. operates in the U.S. and 15 other countries throughout North America, Latin America andEurope. Equifax is a member of Standard & Poor’s (S&P) 500® Index. Our common stock is traded on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol EFX.

About Anakam (www.anakam.com)

Anakam® is a global leader in multi-factor authentication, identity proofing and verification technologies.  With Anakam organizations can defend against unauthorized access, system breach, data loss and fraud.  Anakam’s flagship product the Anakam Identity Suite® is an affordable and scalable solution which gives organizations the power to configure authentication policy based on level of risk, individual business unit use cases and compliance requirements. The nation’s leading healthcare, government, banking and commercial organizations have chosen Anakam to prove trusted access to their sensitive data.  For more information, please visit http://www.anakam.com.

PhoneFactor Declares Case Closed on SSL/TLS Authentication Vulnerability

Microsoft Patches Signal the Successful End to a Year Long Project to Address a Major Vulnerability in the SSL Protocol

OVERLAND PARK, KS—(Marketwire - August 19, 2010) - PhoneFactor, Inc., the leading global provider of phone-based multi-factor authentication services, declares victory on the SSL/TLS authentication project. With Microsoft’s release last week of patches for all supported versions of Windows, the SSL/TLS vulnerability has been addressed by all major vendors without any know exploits having taken place.

The SSL/TLS vulnerability was discovered by PhoneFactor team member Marsh Ray one year ago this week. The SSL authentication gap allows an attacker to mount a man-in-the-middle attack by injecting malicious data and commands into the authenticated SSL communications path. The vulnerability resulted from a weakness in the SSL protocol standard (formally known as Transport Layer Security, or TLS). As such, most SSL implementations were vulnerable in one way or another.

“It is not every day that a discovery is as far reaching as the one found by PhoneFactor, a problem that is not vendor-specific but built-in, industry-wide, and universally relevant,” said Dan Geer, Chief Information Security Officer for In-Q-Tel.

While Ray and PhoneFactor CTO Steve Dispensa were working privately with an industry consortium to address the issue, news of the vulnerability broke in November 2009 when a member of an IETF working group independently discovered the issue. Word quickly spread through the IT security community. A working exploit against Twitter was published just days after the vulnerability became public. Microsoft rated the severity of the vulnerability as “important,” the second-highest classification on its four-tier scale.

“There is all but no precedent for what to do right in such situations. In my opinion, PhoneFactor should be commended for its handling of the problem,” said Geer.

One year later, a new SSL protocol (RFC 5746) is in place. Initial fixes that disabled the offending SSL/TLS renegotiation process have since been replaced with secure implementations of renegotiation from Microsoft, OpenSLL, and Oracle’s Java. A comprehensive list of vendor patches is available at http://www.phonefactor.com/sslgap/ssl-tls-authentication-patches. Most importantly, the issue was largely resolved before any large-scale attacks surfaced.

“At a time when vendors are often criticized for slow responses to seemingly small but severe defects, the industry has proven it can work together to fix a very challenging bug in an interoperable protocol in record time,” said Marsh Ray. “I think now is a good a time as any to claim victory.”

About PhoneFactor
PhoneFactor is a leading provider of multi-factor authentication. The company’s award-winning service uses any phone as a second form of authentication. PhoneFactor’s out-of-band architecture and real-time fraud alerts provide strong security for enterprise and consumer applications. It’s easy and cost effective to set up and deploy to large numbers of geographically diverse users. PhoneFactor was recently named to the Bank Technology News FutureNow list of the top 10 technology innovators securing the banking industry today and a finalist in 2010 SC Magazine Reader Trust Awards. Learn more at www.phonefactor.com.

CounterPath Brings Multitasking, Multi-Account VoIP Softphone to the Apple iPhone, iPad and iPod touch

CounterPath Brings Multitasking, Multi-Account VoIP Softphone
to the Apple iPhone, iPad and iPod touch

Enterprise-Grade Bria iPhone Edition 1.1 Enhances Productivity By Freeing Users to Access and Edit Documents While They Talk

Vancouver, Canada– August 17, 2010 – CounterPath Corporation (TSX-V: CCV; OTCBB: CPAH), an award-winning provider of desktop and mobile VoIP software solutions, today announced the worldwide availability of Bria iPhone Edition Version 1.1 for Apple’s iPhone, iPad and iPod touch. Compatible with Apple’s new iOS 4 operating system, Bria iPhone Edition 1.1 is a highly secure, standards-based VoIP softphone that works over both 3G and Wi-Fi networks.

Bria iPhone Edition 1.1 leverages iOS 4 to deliver to Bria users’ their most requested feature: multitasking on the iPhone, freeing them to stay productive while waiting for calls. This freedom is particularly valuable for iPhone users that need to reference other applications while on a call, enhancing the device’s value as a business tool. When Apple releases iOS 4 for the iPad, Bria iPhone Edition 1.1 will immediately and automatically extend its multitasking features to that device.

Bria iPhone Edition 1.1 also features support for up to eight accounts, so users can create a separate account – including a separate number – for each aspect of their life, such as work, home or on the move. Bria users now simply log in once to stay connected to all of their accounts throughout their day. Bria iPhone Edition 1.1 also lets users create a separate dialing plan for each account to ensure that each call is placed correctly.

Bria iPhone Edition 1.1 also fully supports older devices running iPhone 3.0 and is ideal for the growing number of SMEs, large enterprises and governments that are deploying iPhones, the iPod touch and iPads for mobile workers, many of whom require full access to their communications services while away from their desk or office. Bria iPhone Edition leverages the iPhone’s native address book and its embedded Bluetooth technology to provide a seamless calling experience while on the move.

“Bria iPhone Edition 1.1 takes Mobile VoIP to the next level by enabling iPhone users to take one or more of the VoIP accounts mobile,” said Todd Carothers, VP of Product Management, CounterPath. “Now with full multitasking and multi-account support, Bria liberates iOS 4 users by truely un-tethering them from the desktop. Bria iPhone Edition 1.1 is the latest example of CounterPath’s commitment to the burgeoning Mobile VoIP market.”

Bria iPhone Edition 1.1 integrates seamlessly with other CounterPath desktop and convergence solutions, as well as with enterprise and carrier infrastructure equipment from major vendors such as Alcatel-Lucent, Ericsson, BroadSoft, Metaswitch, Avaya, Cisco and NEC. Bria iPhone Edition also supports Asterisk-based telephony systems.

Bria iPhone Edition 1.1’s other key features include:

  • Full SIP compliance, enabling use with any SIP-compliant server and hundreds of ITSPs that currently offer CounterPath-based services.
    • Bria iPhone Edition appears as another endpoint to service providers or PBX equipment, enabling fast, cost-effective deployments.
  • Call quality that’s superior to circuit-switched wireline and wireless voice, and based on the G.711, G.729 and GSM codecs.
  • An intuitive user interface that provides one-touch access to voicemail, call history, speakerphone and other frequently used telephony features such as 4-digit dialing.
  • Support for DTMF, which lets users enter numbers to access an auto attendant.
  • Bluetooth support, enabling hands-free calling for convenience, as well as safety while driving. (iPhone and iPod touch only).
  • Multi-call management options, including the ability to switch between, merge and split calls, all in ways that are already familiar to iPhone users so they can start using these features immediately.
  • Signaling and call encryption via TLS and SRTP, enabling enterprise-class security.
  • Optional customized branding available for enterprises and telephony providers.

Bria iPhone Edition is the latest CounterPath solution for mobile platforms and its first standalone mobile SIP application. Earlier this year, CounterPath launched Linux, Mac and Windows versions of Bria, all of which received strong approval and endorsement from Internet telephony service providers (ITSPs) and telecom infrastructure vendors. In addition to the Bria-branded version, CounterPath will also be developing customized white-label versions of Bria iPhone Edition for carriers, OEMs and enterprise customers worldwide through its professional services team.

Current Bria iPhone Edition users will be automatically updated to Version 1.1 when the update is available. Bria iPhone Edition 1.1 is sold exclusively through the following link on the iTunes Store for $7.99. Customers have the ability to upgrade the client to include G.729 support.

###

About CounterPath
CounterPath Corporation is an award-winning provider of innovative desktop and mobile VoIP software products and solutions. The company’s product suite includes SIP-based softphones, server applications and Fixed Mobile Convergence (FMC) solutions that enable service providers, enterprises and Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEM) to cost-effectively integrate voice, video, presence and Instant Messaging (IM) applications into their VoIP offerings and extend functionality across both fixed and mobile networks.

CounterPath’s customers include some of the world’s largest telecommunications service providers and network equipment providers including AT&T, Verizon, BT (British Telecommunications PLC), Deutsche Telekom, Cisco Systems and Mitel.

For more information please visit www.counterpath.com.

Doxie + CloudApp now work together for easy file and paper sharing

Doxie + CloudApp now work together for easy file and paper sharing

CloudApp makes sharing images, links, music, and files easy—now seamlessly integrated with Doxie, the amazing scanner for documents

RALEIGH, USA and MADRID, SPAIN (August 11th, 2010) - Doxie, the modern $129 paper scanner that travels everywhere, and CloudApp, the simple, fast way to share images and files online, now work together to make sharing paper documents and photos easy.

By scanning documents and photos with Doxie, or dragging files and links to CloudApp, users can create an instantly sharable web link, like this:

http://cl.ly/1s1z

“Information is meant to be shared,” said Travis J. Hicks, chief operating officer at Apparent. “By building support for CloudApp right into Doxie, we’ve developed an incredibly easy way to turn paper into URLs you can instantly share via IM, Facebook, Twitter, or e-mail. CloudApp users can also share screenshots, files, and music, all using one simple service.”

“Doxie is to scanning what CloudApp is to file sharing-making them a perfect match,” said Maximilian Schoening from CloudApp. “The integration blew our minds.”

At an ultra-light 10.9 ounces, Doxie is always ready to scan - no external power required. Doxie offers crisp, clean copies of documents in color at up to 600 dpi with its patented scanning technology on PC and Mac. A single button—Doxie’s Heart Button—makes sharing anything on paper fast and seamless. Scan to local apps, or use Doxie’s on-screen “Cloud” and “Devices” buttons to send to popular web apps, iPhone, and now directly to CloudApp for fast and effortless sharing.

Pricing & Availability Sign up for a free CloudApp account at http://www.getcloudapp.com. Mac OS X users can also add CloudApp as a menu extra for instant sharing of other types of files.

Doxie is available for $129.00, direct from www.getdoxie.com. Existing Doxie users can upgrade to the new Doxie + CloudApp Edition at www.getdoxie.com/support at no charge, available for both Mac and PC. Doxie is fully accessorized with cloud scanning software, USB cable, quick start guide, leatherette case, and photo scanning sleeves.

About Apparent Apparent makes smart devices and software that rocks. Apparent’s award-winning products and brands include IntelliScanner home and small business barcode readers that organize everything; Barcode Producer, the industry standard barcode generation suite for graphic designers; and Doxie, the amazing scanner for documents.

+1 919-468-0340, hello [at] itsapparent [dot] com, www.itsapparent.com.

About CloudApp CloudApp allows you to share images, links, music, videos and files fast, with the ability to access and organize your uploads from anywhere in the world through an intuitive web interface. Sign up at http://www.getcloudapp.com.

Cisco Security Survey Spotlights Consumers' Influence on Enterprise IT

Cisco Security Survey Spotlights Consumers’ Influence on Enterprise IT

 

More Than Half of Security Professionals Report That Employees Use Unsupported Applications and Devices Despite Strict Policies

 

Cisco Senior Security Advisor Christopher Burgess discusses the importance of the responsible use of social media

SAN FRANCISCO - June 24, 2010 - Cisco today announced the results of a survey exploring the security implications of social networking and the use of personal devices in the enterprise. One of the most striking findings was that employees are consistently working around information technology security policies to use unsupported devices and applications.  Another significant finding: 71 percent of the survey respondents said that overly strict security policies have a negative impact on hiring and retaining employees under age 30.

Conducted on behalf of Cisco by InsightExpress, the survey polled 500 IT security professionals across the United States, Germany, Japan, China and India. The results illustrate that the consumer influence on enterprise IT is growing and that more employees are bringing personal devices and applications into the network, presenting new business opportunities and security challenges. The survey explores the changing enterprise security landscape due to the evolving requirements of today’s borderless networks, the benefits and drawbacks of accommodating an increasingly mobile workforce, and the challenges of protecting sensitive and proprietary data.

Highlights

  • More than half of the survey respondents have determined that their employees use unsupported applications, including:
    • Social networking  – 68 percent
    • Collaborative – 47 percent
    • Peer to peer – 47 percent
    • Cloud – 33 percent
  • Nearly half (41 percent) of the respondents have determined that employees have been using unsupported devices, and more than one-third of that number said they have had a breach or loss of information due to unsupported network devices.
  • Despite these trends, about half (53 percent) of the IT respondents said they are likely to allow personal devices on the network in the next 12 months and 7 percent already support personal devices.
  • More than half (51 percent) listed “social networking” as one of the top three biggest security risks to their organization, while one in five (19 percent) considers it the highest risk.
  • Social networking tools are an unprecedented and highly beneficial tool for many parts of organizations, including human resources, marketing and customer service.
  • Nearly three out of four survey respondents said that overly strict security policies have a moderate or significant negative impact on hiring and retaining employees under age 30.

Supporting Quotes:

  • Fred Kost, director, security solutions, Cisco, said:

  • “As the lines between personal and business computing increasingly blur, it is becoming clear that employees are going to use social networking and personal devices whether permitted or not. The best strategic approach is to focus less on restricting usage and more on effective solutions to ensure highly secure, responsible use. These solutions involve more than technology. Organizations should develop education programs, corporate policies and best practices in order to realize the extensive business benefits of social networking while protecting against the variety of potential threats that it can present.”

Chris Christiansen, program vice president, Security Products and Services Group, IDC, said:

“Increasingly, unapproved and unmanaged personal devices in the corporate environment are hastening the need for more intelligent security management. These “solutions” must deal with difficulty of protecting individuals and corporations while providing a positive user experience and corporate data access from any device, anywhere, anytime.” 


Supporting Resources:

Vesta Corporation Expands Contract with Telefonica O2 to Manage all Top Up Channels

Vesta Corporation Expands Contract with Telefonica O2 to Manage all Top Up Channels

- Improves and unifies top up experience across all channels

-  New features include scheduled top ups and gifting options

DUNDALK and DUBLIN, Ireland — 01 June 2010 — Vesta Corporation, a global leader in electronic payment solutions, today announced that it has expanded its contract with mobile operator Telefonica O2 to manage all of its electronic top up transactions for prepaid customers.  Vesta’s European headquarters in Dundalk has managed phone-based and SMS top-ups for the operator since 2007.

The recently launched service provides a unified customer experience across all of O2’s direct top-up channels, including phone, live agent, web and SMS.  The enhanced service provides new features, such as ‘scheduled top-up’, where an O2 customer can choose to have credit automatically added to their phone on a particular day.  In addition customers can now store multiple payment cards on their accounts and send credit to multiple gifting “buddies”.

 “O2 conducted an extensive analysis on the revenue and cost benefits of our service compared to other providers.  We are pleased that Vesta came out on top and look forward to assisting O2 realise even greater revenue and cost savings with our new solution,” said Lorcan Burke, Vice President of European Sales and Marketing for Vesta.

Vesta’s Mobile Payments Platform provides end-to-end, fully managed payment services, including prepaid top-up, bill payment and mobile broadband payments for many leading mobile operators worldwide. 

“Increasing customer value and reducing costs are paramount to our growth and continued success,” said  Eoghan Patton, Business Delivery Manager, Telefonica O2.  “Vesta has added value to our product offering, streamlined the top up process for our customers, and eliminated the risks inherent in real-time transaction processing.”

In addition to building out a comprehensive suite of payment channels, Vesta is providing O2 with full indemnification against fraud, and providing the operator with full compliance with the rules and regulations around protecting card holder data. 

About Vesta Corporation

Vesta Corporation is the leading provider of innovative payment services for mobile operators worldwide.  Vesta has processed hundreds of millions of electronic payments for a wide range of telecommunications products and services through operation centers in Europe, the Americas and Asia.  Vesta’s state-of-the-art payment channels, best-in-class fraud management, PCI-compliant data security, and robust customer intelligence have proven to increase revenue and reduce costs for clients, including AT&T, China Mobile, China Unicom, Movistar, Sprint, T-Mobile, Tele2, Telefonica O2, Verizon, and Vodafone. For more information about Vesta Corporation, visit www.trustvesta.com.  

Symantec to Acquire VeriSign's Security Business Solidifying its Position as the World's Most Trusted Source for Protecting Information and Identities Online

Symantec to Acquire VeriSign’s Security Business Solidifying its Position as the World’s Most Trusted Source for Protecting Information and Identities Online

By restoring trust online through universal adoption of identity-based security, Symantec can facilitate a new vision of computing

 

MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif. – May 19, 2010 – Symantec Corp. (Nasdaq: SYMC) today announced that it has signed a definitive agreement to acquire VeriSign’s (Nasdaq: VRSN) identity and authentication business, which includes the Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) Certificate Services, the Public Key Infrastructure (PKI) Services, the VeriSign Trust Services and the VeriSign Identity Protection (VIP) Authentication Service. The combination of VeriSign’s security products, services and recognition as the most trusted brand online and Symantec’s leading security solutions and widespread distribution will enable Symantec to deliver on its vision of a world where people have simple and secure access to their information from anywhere.

 

“With the anonymity of the Internet and the evolving threat landscape, people and organizations are struggling to maintain confidence in the security of their interactions, information and identities online. At the same time, people’s personal and professional lives have converged and they want to use their various digital devices to access information wherever they are without jeopardizing their privacy,” said Enrique Salem, president and CEO, Symantec. “At the same time, IT is faced with the challenge of giving users the appropriate access, while ensuring that corporate data is not at risk. We believe the solution to this dilemma lies in the ubiquity of identity-based security. With the combined products and reach from Symantec and VeriSign, we are poised to drive the adoption of identity security as the means to provide simple and secure access to anything from anywhere, to prevent identity fraud and to make online experiences more user-friendly and hassle-free.”

 

Under the terms of the agreement, Symantec will purchase the specific assets from VeriSign, including the majority stake in VeriSign Japan, for a purchase price of approximately $1.28 billion in cash. Symantec expects the transaction to be 9 cents dilutive to non-GAAP earnings per share in fiscal year 2011, due to the purchase price accounting write down of deferred revenue, and accretive to non-GAAP earnings per share in the September 2011 quarter. The agreement is subject to customary closing conditions, including regulatory approvals, and is expected to close in the September quarter.

 

Enabling a New Vision of Computing
Through this acquisition, Symantec can help businesses incorporate identity security into a comprehensive framework so that IT can confidently and securely adopt new computing models, from cloud computing to social networking and mobile computing to user-owned devices, that promise operational efficiencies and freedom of choice for their employees and customers. That framework is based on five imperatives that Symantec is enabling as part of its new vision of computing and includes:

  • Identity security: proving that people and sites are who they say they are
  • Mobile and other device security: securing mobile and other devices and the information on them
  • Information protection: protecting information from loss, attack, theft and misuse and ensuring the ability to recover that information
  • Context and relevance: delivering information that is relevant to people in both their personal and professional roles
  • Cloud security: ensuring the secure delivery of applications and information from both public and private clouds

Ease-of-use, speed-of-delivery and user-driven preferences are the new imperatives in today’s workplace. People whose personal and professional lives have converged onto their digital devices increasingly expect the freedom to work from anywhere using their own devices, to use any application and to collaborate with anybody in their social network to effectively get their jobs done and simultaneously live their network-enriched lives.

 

IT departments struggle to meet user expectations with simple, secure and cost-effective solutions. Cloud computing can provide instantaneous scale and delivery of applications and desktops by enabling businesses to leverage services from the cloud instead of deploying applications on premise. Identity-based security gives IT the assurance that as information moves in and out of the cloud it is always protected — across any device and between the network and devices they control and those that they don’t. The user’s identity drives what information they can access and how it can be used and shared, independent of the device or application.

 

Creating Mutually Trusted Interactions Online

VeriSign’s SSL Certificate Services provide users with assurance that the websites they are interacting with are legitimate and secure and that their information will be safe when they share it with that site. The VeriSign check mark signifies the authenticity of the websites that users visit and assures them that any sensitive information they share with that site will be encrypted during online transactions. With more than one million web servers using VeriSign SSL certificates, and an infrastructure that processes more than two billion certificate checks daily, VeriSign has the leading share of the SSL market. The addressable market for the server and user authentication segment is estimated to reach $1.6 billion by 2013.

 

Symantec’s current portfolio and along with assets from VeriSign provide the depth and breadth of technologies to make identity-based security of information more universal and part of a comprehensive security solution. By combining VeriSign’s SSL Certificate Services with Symantec Critical System Protection or Protection Suite for Servers, Symantec will help organizations ensure a higher level of security on their web servers as well as verify that security, providing users with the trust and confidence necessary to do business online.

 

VeriSign helps organizations validate the identity of users through its VeriSign Identity Protection (VIP) user authentication service that complements the existing Identity Safe capabilities within the Norton products. The cloud-based VIP service helps organizations doing business online confirm the identities of their customers, employees and partners through user-owned digital certificates that reside on a card, token or other device such as a mobile phone, ensuring that they are giving only legitimate users access to their information. VeriSign has already issued more than two million VIP credentials to individuals and has a network of hundreds of merchants.

 

Through Symantec’s worldwide distribution network and footprint on more than one billion systems – including end-user devices such as laptops, desktops and smart devices, as well as servers – Symantec can facilitate the ubiquity of identity security through digital certificates for both individuals and companies. This is critical to creating mutually trusted interactions online. Merchants have added incentive to join the VIP network if user certificates are widely distributed. More merchants in the VIP network means a more secure and convenient experience for customers moving among member sites. Merchants benefit as well from knowing their customers are also trusted and secure.

 

Symantec can expand the VIP ecosystem by incorporating user certificates into its Norton-branded consumer products providing a channel through which consumers can easily create secure identities that can be authenticated when they do business online. In addition, the combination of the information classification capabilities of Symantec’s Data Loss Prevention solutions and Data Insight technology along with VeriSign’s identity security services, will allow us to help customers ensure that only authorized users have access to specific information.

 

Signifying Trust Online

The VeriSign check mark is the most recognized symbol of trust online with more than 175 million impressions every day on more than 90,000 websites in 160 countries. Symantec’s security solutions and the company’s Norton-branded suites protect more than one billion systems and users around the world. With the addition of VeriSign’s security assets, Symantec will become the leading source of trust online. Following the close of the transaction, Symantec plans to incorporate the VeriSign check mark into a new Symantec logo to convey to users that it is safe to communicate, transact commerce and exchange information online.

 

For more information on how VeriSign’s services will augment Symantec’s portfolio please visit: http://go.symantec.com/verisign.

 

Webcast and Conference Call Information

Symantec will host a conference call and webcast today to discuss the acquisition at 2:30 p.m. PDT/ 5:30 p.m. EDT. The live discussion can be accessed by dialing 888-208-1332 domestic and 913-312-0687 internationally, passcode 8974237. The audio webcast and slide presentation providing an overview of the transaction and strategic rationale and will be available at http://investor.symantec.com/phoenix.zhtml?c=89422&p=irol-eventnpres. Please go to the website at least 15 minutes early to register, download and install any necessary audio software. A replay of the call will be available via webcast.

 

About Symantec

Symantec is a global leader in providing security, storage and systems management solutions to help consumers and organizations secure and manage their information-driven world. Our software and services protect against more risks at more points, more completely and efficiently, enabling confidence wherever information is used or stored. More information is available at www.symantec.com.