Solution to improve security and ensure organization’s compliance

Tata Communications announced today the global availability of its Vulnerability Management Service (VMS). VMS is part of its Managed Security Services suite and is built upon Qualys’ industry leading QualysGuard’s vulnerability management and compliance solutions.

VMS provides discovery and mapping of IT assets, asset prioritization, vulnerability assessment, remediation tracking, and comprehensive reporting. The service automates the process of enterprise vulnerability management and supports policy compliance initiatives.

IT organizations are increasingly driven by the need to comply with regulatory, statutory, industry, and internal requirements such as PCI DSS, SB1386, HIPPA, Sarbanes Oxley, and the EU Data Privacy Directive. Achieving and maintaining compliance with these requirements demands that IT organizations institute ongoing vulnerability assessment and remediation procedures to ensure reasonable efforts are made to protect data and business processes.

According to Forrester Research, “Identifying vulnerabilities is an essential step towards risk mitigation. The key is to establish a systematic process for discovering new and relevant vulnerabilities.” 1

“Business is dependent on the internet, but increasingly sophisticated threats targeting internet infrastructure have exploded at the same time that requirements for ensuring due compliance are increasing. Corporate IT staff are in the unenviable position of having to lower operational risk, improve application availability and assure ongoing compliance to auditors – all in an environment where corporate budgets are tightening,” said John Landau, Senior Vice President of Global Managed Services for Tata Communications. “Effectively managing vulnerabilities to best-practice
levels, in-house, is an expensive and difficult undertaking for businesses of any size. Mistakes can lead to crippling service downtime, potential data corruption, and the risk of being non-compliant. Tata Communications’ vulnerability management service helps organizations wrap their arms around which critical systems need patching at a drastically reduced total cost of ownership. There is no investment in capital or special skills required. The service allows customers both large and small to offload the grinding technical and operational aspects of vulnerability management while retaining control over decision-making and the actual remediation process.”

VMS enables IT security and system administration staff to leapfrog the complexities around assessment and information management and focus on the remediation tasks that require business and technical judgment, leveraging the automated capabilities that are foundational elements of the new service. Qualys’ vulnerability management Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) solution is already a standard for more than 35% of the Fortune 100, and Tata Communications is now able to deliver the same capabilities to its customers.

“Managing security risk and compliance initiatives is a challenge that organizations are struggling with on daily basis” said Philippe Courtot, Qualys CEO. “Our partnership with Tata Communications allows them to offer their global customer base a proven, scalable and cost effective solution to help these organizations improve their security and streamline compliance initiatives. We are pleased to partner with such a world class organization and look forward to working with them.”

Reference:

1 “Operationalizing Application Vulnerability Management”, February 2008.

About Tata Communications

Tata Communications, a member of the $62.5 billion Tata Group, is a leading global provider of a new world of communications. The emerging markets communications leader leverages its advanced solutions capabilities and domain expertise across its global and pan-India network to deliver managed solutions to multi-national and Indian enterprises, service providers and Indian consumers.

This organization’s range of services include transmission, IP, converged voice, mobility, managed network connectivity, hosting and storage, managed security, managed collaboration and business transformation for global enterprises and service providers, as well as Internet, retail broadband and content services for Indian consumers.

The Tata Global Network encompasses one of the most advanced and largest submarine cable networks, a Tier-1 IP network, with connectivity to more than 200 countries across 300 Pops, and more than 1 million square feet of data center and co-location facilities.

Tata Communications’ unique emerging market depth and breadth of reach includes a national fiber backbone network and access to a network in over 60 cities and 125 Pops in India, strategic investments in South African converged services operator, Neotel, Sri Lanka and Nepal and, subject to fulfillment of conditions precedent, a 50% ownership in China Enterprise Communications (CEC) providing full country VPN coverage in China.

Servicing customers from its offices in over 80 cities in 40 countries, Tata Communications is the number one global international wholesale voice operator and number one provider of international long distance, enterprise data and Internet services in India, the Company was named “Best Wholesale Carrier” at the World Communications Awards in 2006, “BestPan-Asian Wholesale Provider” at the 2006 and 2007 Capacity Magazine Global Wholesale Telecommunications Awards and was awarded “Best Progress in Emerging Markets” at the 2008 Mobile Communication Awards.

Tata Communications Limited along with its global subsidiaries, (Tata Communications), is listed on the Bombay Stock Exchange and the National Stock Exchange of India and its ADRs are listed on the New York Stock Exchange. (NYSE: TCL)

For Information on Tata Communications’ MSS offerings:

http://www.tatacommunications.com/enterprise/security/

About Qualys

Qualys, Inc. is the leading provider of on-demand IT security risk and compliance management solutions—delivered as a service. Qualys’ Software-as-a-Service solutions are can be deployed worldwide, providing customers an immediate and continuous view of their security and compliance postures. The QualysGuard’s service is used today by more than 3,500 organizations in 85 countries, including 35 of the Fortune Global 100 and performs more than 200 million IP audits per year. Qualys has the largest vulnerability management deployment in the world at a Fortune Global 50 company. Qualys has established strategic agreements with leading managed service providers and consulting organizations including BT, Etisalat, Fujitsu, IBM, I(TS)2, LAC, SecureWorks, Symantec, Tata Communications, TELUS, and VeriSign.

For more information, please visit their website:

http://www.qualys.com/

http://www.qualys.com/products/qg_suite/vulnerability_management/

http://www.qualys.com/products/qg_suite/policy_compliance/

http://www.qualys.com/products/qg_suite/pci/