BT tries to crack cyber crime, grabs stake in Safe Security
(2021/07/23)
- Reference: 1627019765
- News link: https://www.theregister.co.uk/2021/07/23/bt_safe_security/
- Source link:
BT is looking to cash in on ever-growing global concerns over digital crime, and has confirmed making a multi million pound investment in US-based cyber risk management firm Safe Security.
The UK telco wouldn’t say how much it has pumped into the US business, which raised almost $50m from investors since its formation in 2012. As part of the deal, BT plans to combine Safe Security’s “SAFE platform” with its own managed security services to provide added protection for its customers in the UK against cyber threats.
What seems to appeal to BT is that Safe Security’s platform allows organisations to run a series of checks of their defences to help them better understand the likelihood of suffering a major cyber attack. Not only does it help to identify gaps in an organisation’s digital defences, it also helps to calculate the cost of any breach.
[1]BT parachutes in former HSBC exec to run new Digital unit
[2]BT and Communication Workers Union draw up 'principles' to guide future planning on pay and redundancies
[3]BT to phase out 3G in UK by 2023 for EE, Plusnet, BT Mobile subscribers
[4]BT promises firmware update for Mini Whole Home Wi-Fi discs to prevent obsessive Big Tech DNS lookups
Martin Courtney, an analyst at research biz Tech Market View, reckons the deal will “augment the telco’s managed security service (MSS) proposition with a cyber risk assessment tool that can help businesses and consumers measure the effectiveness of their existing defences.
“BT also sees the technology as a potential route to market for cyber insurance and other services that could benefit from an accurate appraisal of organisational and individual cyber risk scores in the future,” he added.
[5]
The strategic investment is part of BT’s plans to beef up its cybersecurity offering against a backdrop of a growing ransomware threat that over the past weeks has hit [6]Northern Trains ticketing kit in the UK, real estate, finance, and insurance IT firm [7]CloudStar , and [8]SonicWall .
[9]
Earlier this month, US President Joe Biden had a phone call with Russia's President Putin about the worldwide ransomware epidemic, and afterwards told the press the US [10]was prepared to attack the servers used by ransomware criminals who were targeting American businesses and citizens.
Ransomware gang REvil has had some big hits recently – such as exploiting installations of [11]Kaseya's IT management software to infect over 1k businesses in one fell swoop in the past month or so - although the gang appears to have [12]gone silent for the moment.
[13]
BT is not alone in investing in infosec of late. Earlier this month [14]Microsoft made a reported half a billion dollar investment in San Francisco-based security outfit RiskIQ which uses security intelligence to protect an enterprise from attack.
Research company Gartner has meanwhile warned that the next wave of cyber threats could involve [15]machines harming - and even killing - humans . You have been warned. ®
Get our [16]Tech Resources
[1] https://www.theregister.com/2021/01/12/bt_harmeen_mehta_hire/
[2] https://www.theregister.com/2021/07/08/bt_and_cwu_agreement/
[3] https://www.theregister.com/2021/07/15/bt_3g_shutdown/
[4] https://www.theregister.com/2021/06/11/bt_wifi_disc_dns_lookup_huge_volumes/
[5] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_security/front&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=2&c=2YPqTPaNPwYYeeG8pI@MRhwAAAI8&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D2%26raptor%3Dcondor%26pos%3Dtop%26test%3D0
[6] https://www.theregister.com/2021/07/20/northern_trains_ticketing_system/
[7] https://www.theregister.com/2021/07/19/in_brief_security/
[8] https://www.theregister.com/2021/07/15/sonicwall_secure_access/
[9] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_security/front&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44YPqTPaNPwYYeeG8pI@MRhwAAAI8&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[10] https://www.theregister.com/2021/07/12/in_brief_security/
[11] https://www.theregister.com/2021/07/13/kaseya_update/
[12] https://www.theregister.com/2021/07/13/revil_ransomware_shuts/
[13] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_security/front&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44YPqTPaNPwYYeeG8pI@MRhwAAAI8&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[14] https://www.theregister.com/2021/07/13/microsoft_riskiq_acquisition/
[15] https://www.theregister.com/2021/07/21/gartner_op_tech_risk/
[16] https://whitepapers.theregister.com/
The UK telco wouldn’t say how much it has pumped into the US business, which raised almost $50m from investors since its formation in 2012. As part of the deal, BT plans to combine Safe Security’s “SAFE platform” with its own managed security services to provide added protection for its customers in the UK against cyber threats.
What seems to appeal to BT is that Safe Security’s platform allows organisations to run a series of checks of their defences to help them better understand the likelihood of suffering a major cyber attack. Not only does it help to identify gaps in an organisation’s digital defences, it also helps to calculate the cost of any breach.
[1]BT parachutes in former HSBC exec to run new Digital unit
[2]BT and Communication Workers Union draw up 'principles' to guide future planning on pay and redundancies
[3]BT to phase out 3G in UK by 2023 for EE, Plusnet, BT Mobile subscribers
[4]BT promises firmware update for Mini Whole Home Wi-Fi discs to prevent obsessive Big Tech DNS lookups
Martin Courtney, an analyst at research biz Tech Market View, reckons the deal will “augment the telco’s managed security service (MSS) proposition with a cyber risk assessment tool that can help businesses and consumers measure the effectiveness of their existing defences.
“BT also sees the technology as a potential route to market for cyber insurance and other services that could benefit from an accurate appraisal of organisational and individual cyber risk scores in the future,” he added.
[5]
The strategic investment is part of BT’s plans to beef up its cybersecurity offering against a backdrop of a growing ransomware threat that over the past weeks has hit [6]Northern Trains ticketing kit in the UK, real estate, finance, and insurance IT firm [7]CloudStar , and [8]SonicWall .
[9]
Earlier this month, US President Joe Biden had a phone call with Russia's President Putin about the worldwide ransomware epidemic, and afterwards told the press the US [10]was prepared to attack the servers used by ransomware criminals who were targeting American businesses and citizens.
Ransomware gang REvil has had some big hits recently – such as exploiting installations of [11]Kaseya's IT management software to infect over 1k businesses in one fell swoop in the past month or so - although the gang appears to have [12]gone silent for the moment.
[13]
BT is not alone in investing in infosec of late. Earlier this month [14]Microsoft made a reported half a billion dollar investment in San Francisco-based security outfit RiskIQ which uses security intelligence to protect an enterprise from attack.
Research company Gartner has meanwhile warned that the next wave of cyber threats could involve [15]machines harming - and even killing - humans . You have been warned. ®
Get our [16]Tech Resources
[1] https://www.theregister.com/2021/01/12/bt_harmeen_mehta_hire/
[2] https://www.theregister.com/2021/07/08/bt_and_cwu_agreement/
[3] https://www.theregister.com/2021/07/15/bt_3g_shutdown/
[4] https://www.theregister.com/2021/06/11/bt_wifi_disc_dns_lookup_huge_volumes/
[5] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_security/front&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=2&c=2YPqTPaNPwYYeeG8pI@MRhwAAAI8&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D2%26raptor%3Dcondor%26pos%3Dtop%26test%3D0
[6] https://www.theregister.com/2021/07/20/northern_trains_ticketing_system/
[7] https://www.theregister.com/2021/07/19/in_brief_security/
[8] https://www.theregister.com/2021/07/15/sonicwall_secure_access/
[9] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_security/front&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44YPqTPaNPwYYeeG8pI@MRhwAAAI8&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[10] https://www.theregister.com/2021/07/12/in_brief_security/
[11] https://www.theregister.com/2021/07/13/kaseya_update/
[12] https://www.theregister.com/2021/07/13/revil_ransomware_shuts/
[13] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_security/front&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44YPqTPaNPwYYeeG8pI@MRhwAAAI8&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[14] https://www.theregister.com/2021/07/13/microsoft_riskiq_acquisition/
[15] https://www.theregister.com/2021/07/21/gartner_op_tech_risk/
[16] https://whitepapers.theregister.com/
Re: Look at both sides of the fence
Lil Endian
Yeah, it's a nasty thought.
Insurers, infosec providers, training courses...
Re: Look at both sides of the fence
elsergiovolador
It's interesting how they use ransomware to ban crypto.
- Turn off the power for a few days
- Tell people we got hacked
- They want us to send crypto
- Turn on the power
- Ban crypto
Now every time someone opposes banning crypto, you can shut them down saying "oh so you want hackers to destroy our infrastructure?"
The Boojum
It would be nice if BT 'spent' £££s on preventing spam calls by blocking them, but no, that would hurt revenue.
Look at both sides of the fence
Ransomware has the potential to make a lot of people money ... 100% legally. We used to see this argument in the early days of virus infections when the AV vendors were accuse of promoting viruses but it was just a "guess" back then - I don't see insurance companies facing that "false news" these days but malware is definitely a marketing feature in the insurance industry now.