Unlocking Smarter Network Security

Network security, already the leading headache for corporate executives in charge of protecting their companies’ IT infrastructure and business operations, is about to get more intuitive. If execs haven’t heard the good news, then they will soon from a chorus of managed security services provider startups and large network carriers such as AT&T Corp. and SBC Communications Inc., MCI Inc. and Sprint Nextel Corp.

Thanks to some new services and products developed by these so-called MSSP startups and the big carriers, corporations can boost their overall defenses. How? With offerings that look at the behavior of incoming viruses, worms and Trojan horses rather than just matching the patterns of attacks periodically put out by anti-virus security companies. The difference is akin to, say, simply matching a name on a do-not-allow-to-fly list with a passenger about to board an airline flight and having specially trained security personnel at the gate who look for and block suspicious persons from boarding.