AT&T is the first North American telco operator that have joined the global alliance formed Singtel, Etisalat, Softbank, and Telefonica. The group is known as the Global Telco Security Alliance formed in April 2018 in the aim of combining the capabilities of telecom operators in assisting all types of business against cyber attacks.
The original four members of the global security alliance came from Singapore, Abu Dhabi, Tokyo, and Madrid and its latest member are from Dallas.
AT&T's membership is expected to strengthen the alliance as additional resources and insights pour in since the company caters more than three million global businesses all over the globe. Barmack Meftah, the president of cybersecurity at AT&T said that they are thrilled to be the first telco in North America to join the alliance, and do so as a founding member.
He said that hackers have well established and organized communities that cooperate to produce cyber threats and it is time large network operators to work together to help deliver disruptive innovations and enable their global customers to detect and respond to threats faster and protect their digital footprint.
The company has invested a lot in securing its cybersecurity capabilities in recent years because of the growing concern of the whole industry of the threat of data breaches. Recently the company bought the AlienVault and turned it into its own cybersecurity to secure its capability. The combined operations of the alliance currently cover not less than 1.2 billion customers in more than 60 nations all over the Asia-Pacific, Europe, the Middle East, and the Americas.
The alliance visions to expand its influence over time and it is expecting to increase its membership in the future as it initiates activities that create global footprints in the future. The members of the alliance started to develop their own strategies in securing their own cyber securities. Singtel announced in late 2018 that it has created its own cybersecurity and managed security service provider by combining the capabilities of Optus and NCS in developing a powerful cybersecurity platform under its Trustwave brand.
The objective of the Trustwave is to assist businesses in fighting cybercrime, protecting data, and reducing risk while securing that the company offers a comprehensive portfolio of managed security services, security testing, consulting, technology solutions and cybersecurity education.
The alliance is expected to develop the expertise of not less than 6,000 security experts all over the globe.
