AT&T Expands Availability of Internet Protect Service in Canada and Latin America


Need To Protect and Defend Networks In These Regions

SAO PAULO, Brazil, Sept. 19 / / - AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T) has announced it is expanding the AT&T Internet Protect(R) service to Canada and Latin America to address the increased interest of multinational companies operating in the region to protect their enterprise networks.

A main priority for multinational companies and large domestic customers operating in Canada and Latin America is to design and roll out effective ways to assess vulnerabilities, protect infrastructure, detect threats and attacks and respond to suspicious activities and events on the network. The expanded availability of AT&T Internet Protect in the region addresses these needs, builds upon AT&T's experience in offering managed security services to clients in Europe, Asia Pacific and the United States and is consistent with the quest of AT&T to offer the capabilities of its global portfolio to meet the priorities of its business customers.

Earlier this year, AT&T announced that network security is regarded by executives as the single most important attribute of their networks, according to the results of a global survey conducted by the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU) for AT&T. The survey of 395 senior executives - "Network Security: Protecting Productivity" - showed that, increasingly, executives feel especially concerned about the growing volumes of customer data that they hold and manipulate, and 45 percent of executives said that the holding of sensitive customer data on their network makes them feel "extremely" vulnerable from an electronic security perspective. Another 41 percent of respondents said the process of analyzing and acting upon detailed customer data also significantly increases their vulnerability.

Among the worst security threats cited by nearly half of executives surveyed by EIU are hackers. Protection against viruses and worms also remains top of mind for companies, but emerging as one of the most feared threats is identity theft - mentioned by one-third of executives - and their concerns are set to rise during the next three years.

"As businesses continue to merge multiple forms of data onto a single network - from voice to video to data - enterprise security becomes more complex," said Andrea Messineo, vice president of AT&T for Canada and Latin America. "With the increased availability of AT&T Internet Protect in Canada and Latin America, we offer our customers products and services to help protect their vital network infrastructure."

AT&T Internet Protect is a security alerting and notification service that offers early warning information regarding potential near real-time attacks - as viruses, worms and distributed denial of service (DDoS) attacks - that are detected in the early formation stages. The service is accessible through the AT&T BusinessDirect(R) portal and uses AT&T's Internet Protocol (IP) backbone as a proxy of general Internet traffic to help predict and profile known and developing malicious activities. Therefore, it provides network managers with essential security information, such as identified immediate network threats, recent patch releases and other security need-to-know facts.

AT&T notifies customers regarding identified critical malicious activity and recommends immediate action to be taken by the customer. Additionally, the AT&T DDoS Defense option provides DDoS identification and mitigation within AT&T's backbone and provides customers with increased protection from malicious traffic before it reaches their network.

In addition to offering its customers the ability to monitor and respond to security threats from the Internet, in July 2007, AT&T launched My Internet Protect, a security knowledge-mining, alerting and notification service for identified threats that are targeted for a customer's specific IP network.

AT&T Internet Protect is a complimentary service to carrier IP Data services, such as AT&T Managed Internet Services and Managed Virtual Private Network (VPN). The AT&T Internet Protect service strengthens the robust capability of IP Data services by adding a layer of intrusion and threat-management protection.

More information on AT&T security offerings can be found at http://business.att.com/security.

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About AT&T

AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T) is a premier communications holding company. Its subsidiaries and affiliates, AT&T operating companies, are the providers of AT&T services in the United States and around the world. Among their offerings are the world's most advanced IP-based business communications services and the nation's leading wireless, high speed Internet access and voice services. In domestic markets, AT&T is known for the directory publishing and advertising sales leadership of its Yellow Pages and YELLOWPAGES.COM organizations, and the AT&T brand is licensed to innovators in such fields as communications equipment. As part of its three-screen integration strategy, AT&T is expanding its TV entertainment offerings. Additional information about AT&T Inc. and the products and services provided by AT&T subsidiaries and affiliates is available at http://www.att.com/.

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Source: AT&T Inc.

Web site: http://www.att.com/

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