NTT Communications, FireEye Get Together on Managed Security

Security has been an important part of online operations ever since there was an online to conduct such operations. From email to websites and well beyond, security is a concern that's right at, or near, the top of the list. This is a point not lost on FireEye and NTT (News - Alert) Communications, who have come together in a new partnership geared toward offering a better package in managed security services.

The new partnership is specifically geared toward augmenting NTT Communications' WideAngle Managed Service with FireEye's product suite, a combination that should offer better protection against more potential threats in the field. In particularly, FireEye (News - Alert)'s MVX engine will help to bolster NTT's real time malware detection systems, allowing for the detection and analysis of unknown malware that might hit on email, network traffic, or from endpoints along the system, covering most every point of ingress into the system. Once the threat is identified, it can be more readily addressed, isolating the malware in question and cutting off any outbound communication it might undertake in the meantime.

Once that stage is accomplished, the FireEye Threat Intelligence system is activated to identify if the malware was part of a larger effort, and can carry on as needed from there. This allows not only for more rapid identification of problems, but also the ability to provide that identification without having to bring in extra security personnel, a cost-savings move that's welcome for just about any larger firm.

The new service is expected to launch in Japan starting in April, and from there be released on a wider basis over the next several months. FireEye already has a market presence in over 2,700 organizations in over 67 countries. Pricing, at last report, was available on an individual basis according to the company's needs.

Mandiant's M-Trends report for 2015 spells out the danger rather nicely: attackers were operating on networks for an average of 205 days without being noticed. This shows how easy it is for many hackers to slip onto a network and carry out a variety of functions without anyone the wiser, a problem that can mean serious trouble for an operation. But knowing this particular point can be the wake-up call necessary to take a hard look at current security with an eye toward fixing problems that may be in place. That's where tools like NTT Communications (News - Alert) and FireEye's lineups can come in handy, working to fend off malware before it can even get started on the system.

Naturally, it likely won't block every problem—hackers are working just as hard to make malware as other engineers are working to prevent and eliminate it—but having the best protections possible in place will help prevent the largest number of such attacks. Security is a major part of any operation, and having tools like NTT and FireEye's in place should go a long way toward making the system better overall. It's important, however, to understand the current system and have an idea of how to improve it to get the most advantage out of new tools.