AT&T launches security Webcast network

The company's Internet Security News Network (ISNN) is designed to offer news updates twice a day and interviews with security experts. It also is intended to leverage AT&T's year-old managed security services and the AT&T Internet Protect subscriber service.

ISNN is available only to subscribers of the Internet Protect service, who currently number in the hundreds, said Janet Wyles, an AT&T spokeswoman. ISNN is a free service to Internet Protect customers, she noted.

The security video network is designed to operate 24 hours a day and, when attacks occur, deliver live emergency broadcasts to users' desktops. ISNN programming also features interviews with security experts and forensic analysts.

"AT&T ISNN is designed to help users understand potential threats and to help them better protect themselves," Ed Amoroso, AT&T chief security officer, said in a statement.

AT&T Internet Protect is a managed security service that includes security alerts and monitoring as well as firewalls, tokens to authenticate a user's identity, and intrusion detection and prevention technologies.

These services are similar to those offered by security giants Symantec, McAfee and Checkpoint Software Technologies, as well as other vendors such as VeriSign. Corporate customers will often receive e-mail alerts from their respective security vendor, notifying them of attacks and suggesting ways to mitigate the problems.

AT&T's security Webcast program will be one more tool to combat attacks, Wyles said.

"It will be one more place to get up-to-the-minute security information," Wyles said. "It will also consolidate a lot of that information that customers are getting from other sources, as well."

AT&T is familiar with the disruptions security problems can cause. The telecommunications giant runs Internet access service AT&T Worldnet, which has had to deal with a range of security threats and unsolicited bulk e-mail.