The partnership will see both companies invest up to US$50 million over the next five years to launch the first Managed Defence Solution powered by FireEye in APAC to help enterprises contain rising cyber-attacks.
Bill Chang (left), CEO, SingTel Group Enterprise and David DeWalt (right), Chairman of the Board and CEO, FireEye.
The money will be used to build infrastructure, recruit people and to train them into security experts.
This initiative is part of the overall cyberdefence strategy that SingTel has envisaged in the modern threat environment.
The strategic partnership between SingTel and FireEye promises to enhance the cyber security eco-system in Asia Pacific and will cover:
- Significant investments related to new Advanced Security Operation Centres (ASOCs) in Singapore and Australia.
- The launch of the first SingTel Managed Defence solution powered by FireEye in APAC.
- Building up cyber security expertise, including training up to 150 professionals to operate the ASOCs.
- Setting up new data stores in the region.
- Increasing awareness and knowledge of next generation cyber threats through the biannual APAC-focused threat advisory reports by SingTel and FireEye.
More details on each of the above facets of the partnership can be found below, extracted from the press release.
SingTel Managed Defence powered by FireEye
The solution will provide continuous monitoring, detection and the quick containment of malware and other perceived threats to enterprises and government organisations.
“This is a ground-breaking collaboration to enhance the cyber security ecosystem in the region. We are combining FireEye’s best-of-breed managed defence capabilities and SingTel’s leadership in ICT services and infrastructure in Asia Pacific. This will help enterprises better manage the increasing challenges of a new generation of cyber-attacks. With its deep cyber security capabilities, SingTel aims to be the preferred and trusted ICT services partner for enterprises,” said Bill Chang, SingTel’s CEO Group Enterprise.
Based on investigations in 2013 from FireEye’s Mandiant incident response unit, advanced attackers went undetected for a median of 229 days before being discovered.
The vulnerabilities took another 32 day to be remediated.
During this time, an organisation can be exposed to potential malicious activity for months.
That’s nearly two-thirds of a year!
The SingTel Managed Defence powered by FireEye focuses on both preventing threats from breaching a network as well as quickly alerting and remediating vulnerabilities to reduce the window of exposure.
This solution protects organisations by:
- Detecting and preventing most intrusion attempts against major attack vectors with patented virtual machine-based technology.
- Monitoring an environment 24×7 and analysing potential cyber threats using techniques based on over 100,000 hours per year of front-line experience.
- Resolving incidents quickly and assessing the impact for prompt, accurate disclosure.
Advanced Security Operation Centres (ASOCs)
SingTel and FireEye will co-invest in setting up and jointly operating ASOCs in Singapore and Sydney, Australia.
“With more mobile devices consuming enterprise data and increasingly exposed to malware attacks, SingTel and FireEye will join forces to provide threat mitigation for mobile devices as well. Apart from offering the game-changing SingTel Managed Defence Powered by FireEye solution, which helps enterprises avert costly and prolonged malware breaches, we are aiming to strengthen the industry’s awareness and knowledge in dealing with cyber threats with our bi-annual Asia Pacific-focused threat advisory reports,” Chang added: “
Cyber security professionals at these centres will continuously monitor, analyse and contain Advanced Persistent Threats (APTs) and malware on an around-the-clock basis.
The ASOCs will be integrated with SingTel’s Network Operations Centres to provide end-to-end visibility across corporate networks and Internet traffic.
These centres will also connect to FireEye’s global network of ASOCs and have access to FireEye Dynamic Threat Intelligence (DTI), a global network that connects FireEye threat prevention platforms to provide a real-time exchange of threat data.
This provides enterprises with the latest intelligence on cyber attacks and enables FireEye to proactively recognise new threats and block attacks.
Cyber security expertise
According to FireEye’s latest regional Advanced Threat Report, countries in Asia Pacific are more likely to be targeted by advanced cyber-attacks than the world as a whole .
“FireEye is very excited about our partnership with SingTel. Our managed defence capabilities deliver a level of protection, containment and remediation of highly targeted and complex attacks unmatched in the industry, and SingTel has the scale and infrastructure to help reach customers across the region,” said David DeWalt, Chairman of the Board and Chief Executive Officer for FireEye.
This has led to a higher demand for cyber security talent and a shortage of skillsets in cyber forensics, incidence response and threat analysis in this part of the world.
The partnership will help address this by bringing in global cyber security experts and growing the local talent pool.
About 150 cyber security professionals are expected to be trained to operate the ASOCs alone.
Data Stores
For organisations with data location restrictions, SingTel and FireEye will establish data stores in the region to house enterprise data locally.
This enables organisation to maintain their data integrity by keeping their data in-country or region.
Bi-annual APAC threat advisory reports
Today, most studies on cyber security look at results on a global scale.
“Many organisations realise the nature of attacks has fundamentally changed, but are unsure how to update their security infrastructure to respond to modern threats. FireEye and SingTel bring a unique solution to the market, providing managed services that transform our customers’ security posture and help protect their most valuable assets. With our two leading brands, we are looking to grow the business quickly in the Asia Pacific market,” DeWalt added.
With the significant increase in the number of APT activities and computer networks in Asia Pacific under attack, more research and cyber security insights are required for the region.
By expanding the data available via the SingTel network, FireEye will build upon existing Advanced Threat Reports and work with SingTel to jointly produce regular reports
focused on cyber threats in Asia Pacific.
The threat report are expected to deliver broader benefits to the regional security ecosystem by proactively tracking the latest APT activities in Asia Pacific as well as the types of malware that are affecting different countries.
Tags: APAC, APT, ASOC, cybercrime, cyberdefence, cybersecurity, data stores, FireEye, ICT, security, SingTel
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