Singtel, Akamai strengthen alliance to boost web security capabilities

Singtel and Akamai Technologies are engaged in a strategic partnership agreement which will provide businesses with enhanced protection against, and faster response to, Distributed Denial of Services (DDoS) and web application attacks.

DDoS attacks are committed by cyber criminals who stealthily command unrelated computers, servers, Internet of Things (IoT) devices which are often located in different geographical locations.

The purpose of these attacks is to saturate an enterprise’s network and compute resources, causing severe disruptions in normal operations. Cyber criminals also exploit vulnerabilities in websites and applications for the purposes of defacement, data theft and as point of entry into an organisation’s network.

Singtel is the first telecommunications and infocomm technology services provider globally to be trained and certified by Akamai to deliver professional and managed security services for its Web Security solutions in the region.

These services will be made available to Singapore enterprises first, followed by the regional markets in Asia Pacific. Singtel’s Advanced Security Operations Centre (ASOC) staff will be trained to use the round-the-clock security monitoring and attack mitigation capabilities of Akamai’s Managed Security Service to respond more quickly to cyber-attacks. They will leverage Akamai’s end-to-end visibility of internet traffic and attack patterns globally to better monitor, alert, triage and mitigate against the latest security threats.

William Woo, Managing Director of the cyber security business in Group Enterprise, Singtel said, “This partnership augments our award-winning Managed Security Services by integrating our ASOC in Singapore with Akamai’s best-in-class cyber security solutions. The combination of our global threat intelligence with the enhanced capabilities of the ASOC will allow us to better help businesses secure their servers, connectivity, web infrastructure and applications against critical downtime and theft of commercial data while maintaining performance. The partnership further strengthens our existing relationship with Akamai, taking it to a new level of collaboration to reinforce Singapore as a safe business hub, and the Asia Pacific as a region which is conducive for doing business.”

Commenting on the partnership, Graeme Beardsell, Managing Director, Asia Pacific & Japan, Akamai said, “As security remains a key business concern for many organisations, this strategic partnership with Singtel will greatly benefit businesses, leveraging a powerful combination of trained security personnel and advanced tools. With our commitment to the market, we are proud to offer an enhanced and differentiated set of solutions for organisations to boost their business footprint securely. This is especially timely as Singapore aims to engender a secure, resilient infocomm environment as well as a vibrant cyber security ecosystem with its National Cyber Security Masterplan 2018.”

The Singtel ASOC in Singapore is part of Singtel’s network of eight globally federated Security Operations Centres (SOCs) which provides end-to-end visibility of Internet traffic, corporate networks, user end-points and attack patterns globally.

This facility will leverage Akamai’s globally distributed Cloud Security intelligence platform and its network of five SOCs across Asia, Europe and US to provide round-the-clock security monitoring, response and remediation to any cyber-attack.

Together with global threat intelligence from Singtel’s managed security services unit Trustwave and other security intelligence partners, Singtel provides comprehensive intelligence on sophisticated cyber threats to help businesses in the Asia Pacific region better protect themselves by proactively taking the necessary precautions.