Nonstop innovation and adaptability drive cybersecurity.
With the influx of devices and products connected to the internet—from alarm systems to health monitors—security gets more complex. Attack channels and methods are constantly changing. Staying prepared is important.
Mobile devices store valuable data from our work centers, contact books, mobile banks, photo books, health trackers and more. You put all this data at risk by clicking on a suspicious link or using public Wi-Fi without protection.
Security must evolve to help protect personal information. I lead an AT&T innovation team focused on innovation, and one of our top priorities is cybersecurity.
For example, Skycure came to the AT&T Foundry to work with us on a mobile security solution (Mobile Threat Defense) that is designed to defend against attacks on devices. Together, we created something that proactively scouts out and mitigates threats to individual apps, devices and networks. This proactive approach filters out threats to help keep users safe. And it doesn’t interrupt operations.
But what about information sent out from the device?
As businesses continue to go mobile and move to cloud-based solutions, keeping data safe is a challenge. Imagine health records stored in the cloud. If an attacker gets access to those records, they now own social security, health and other personal data.
My team at the AT&T Foundry recently launched AT&T Encryption Services. It offers users highly secure cloud document storage and innovative methods of encryption key management. The service provides encryption to help protect data at rest for customers who store their data in the cloud.
AT&T Encryption Services helps simplify data encryption. You can easily use existing mobile, desktop and web services to deliver documents. And you can feel confident knowing only the intended reader can view the encrypted data.
AT&T Encryption Services is a good choice in any industry with heightened security concerns. Think: digital health, finance and IoT (Internet of Things).
The use of connected devices has increased the concern about lethal cybersecurity threats/attacks. What if machinery on a factory floor was remotely reprogrammed to increase the amount of medicine in a bottle or to raise the temperature on the floor? Consider the consequences. These situations could be both dangerous and costly.
We worked with Bayshore Networks ® to help solve the security, safety and operational needs in the Industrial IoT (IIoT). This collaboration is one of the industry’s first IoT-specific security product concepts designed for a virtualized security environment of this scale.
IIoT security would normally involve a firewall that only permitted the right control center to communicate with an IoT device. With software developed by Bayshore Networks ®, AT&T tested the technology at the AT&T Foundry along with our security team. Firewalls now inspect the commands sent from a control center to help eliminate machine-specific attacks and unauthorized communication to IIoT endpoints.
If there are compromises in the control system, Bayshore’s software can help prevent and block it.
Speed is one of the key advantages of exploring security innovation at the AT&T Foundry. Rapid prototyping and a 90-day sprint cycle allows for quick and efficient problem-solving.
A software-centric network calls for a cybersecurity strategy that is agile and adaptive. Digital connections provide us with great power to innovate—and security must keep pace with that innovation.
Igal Elbaz - Vice President - Ecosystem and Innovation, AT&T Services, Inc