AT&T Plans CNN-style Security Channel 169
An anonymous reader writes "Infoworld has a story about AT&T's upcoming effort to create a CNN of network security. From the article: "Security experts at AT&T are about to take a page from CNN's playbook. Within the next year they will begin delivering a video streaming service that will carry Internet security news 24 hours a day, seven days a week, according to the executive in charge of AT&T Labs.""
Early model (Score:5, Interesting)
Presumably AT&T is going to go deeper into the security game and this is a good move for them. If they want to build credibility, brand this channel with subtlety and simply report the news. But rather than providing this as a service to their existing customers, stream it live to the Internet for everybody's consumption. That will help to build the AT&T brand for security much more so than limiting the audience. The costs cannot be that much more, right?
Interestingly, the page the article is linked on has a signal to noise ratio for this particular article of about
Re:Early model (Score:2)
But rather than providing this as a service to their existing customers, stream it live to the Internet for everybody's consumption. That will help to build the AT&T brand for security much more so than limiting the audience. The costs cannot be that much more, right?
Actually, I'm thinking that the costs may be less to make this publically available.
Re:Early model (Score:2)
One unintended side-effect might be for hacker types to try to get a mention on ISN as a vanity thing.
Re:Early model (Score:2)
Yeah...get something you can prove as your work mentioned on ISN, and all the other people in your hacker group pitch in on a case of beer for you. ^_^
Re:Early model (Score:2)
Re:Early model (Score:3, Interesting)
In the end, while there are some broad sweep security alerts that affect everyone or nearly so, most updates are probably important to 1 out of 10 people.
Re:Early model (Score:2)
Then I realized, most people will never read the book.
Re:Early model (Score:1)
Re:Early model (Score:2)
Re:Early model (Score:2)
Re:Early model (Score:2, Funny)
Re:Early model (Score:1)
Watergate would have been blogged (Score:5, Interesting)
I thought about it, and I'm not scared in the least.
If the Watergate scandal happened today, Deep Throat wouldn't have NEEDED the large conglomerate media to get the story out, he'd have just started a blog. If you doubt that a blog could have penetrated the cover-up and conspiracy, just ask Dan Rather, he's got some nice Word documents to show you.
I agree, mainstream media is a joke these days, luckily there is an alternative. No one needs a big corporate monolith to get news out, we all have access to the biggest printing press there is.
Re:Watergate would have been blogged (Score:5, Insightful)
Dan Rather is one thing, Bush is another. If a blog had discredited Bush to that extent, it would either a: be discredited as 'just a blog' or b: be silenced / discredited rather quickly. It took YEARS for the memo from Britain to get around.
The printing press was working in a vacuum. It made social change because it was completely new when it came to distribuation of information. While it COULD be argued that blogs are the same thing, the main people arguing it would be bloggers. Just because the datalink upstream from individuals is wider doesn't mean the datalink downstream to individuals will get any more varied anytime soon.
I'm sorry, but that's the way it's probably going to be for a while. I'd like to believe in this viewpoint, but I don't.
Re:Watergate would have been blogged (Score:2)
Re:Watergate would have been blogged (Score:2)
If you can show me a newspaper with credibility let me know...
"The general populace, who would not really have any idea of the provenance of any particular blogger, would just think "ok some people say this is happening, some people say it isn't... I can't tell. what's on TV?""
More to the point, "Where's Seinfeld?" People aren't really interested in news these days...Ask yourself this:
W
Re:Early model (Score:2, Insightful)
Re:Early model (Score:1)
Good concept....bad name... (Score:3, Informative)
The service, which currently goes by the code name Internet Security News Network, (ISN) is under development at AT&T Labs...
Ten good reasons not to use "ISN":
Naming issues aside, this souinds like it could be very cool...but will this ever be available to the public at large, or will it remain restricted to AT&T customers?
Re:Good concept....bad name... (Score:1)
ISN [acronymfinder.com] is not unique, but neither is CNN [acronymfinder.com]. I'm pretty sure that every TLA (even TLA [acronymfinder.com]) has been used and reused and reused by now.
Re:Good concept....bad name... (Score:2)
http://www.acronymfinder.com/af-query.asp?String=
Re:Good concept....bad name... (Score:2)
A supernovae is exactly what this AT&T network will provide, when it's discovered that 90% of the worst offenders on security issues provide 90% of the high-tech jobs in America and the rest provide most of the political donations.
If any of the stories from this new network cause the same sort of impact as the news that broke from Enron, the President won't be storing all that radioactive waste in the Yucca Mountains. He'll be piping it into AT&T's HQ, laughing
Re:Good concept....bad name... (Score:2)
Re:Good concept....bad name... (Score:2)
President Clark 0wns ISN (Score:2)
Everyone knows ISN is just a mouthpiece for the Bush^H^H^H^H Clark administration, ever since they ordered the bombing of civilians in Iraq^H^H^H^H on Mars.
I don't care what Sheridan says, anything coming from ISN should be taken with a grain of salt, post interregnum or not.
Maybe they won't blow it. (Score:1)
AT&T? (Score:1)
Re:AT&T? (Score:1)
No, they mean AT&T. Since when does SBC own AT&T?
Re:AT&T? (Score:1)
Re:AT&T? (Score:2)
http://home.businesswire.com/portal/site/google/i
Serious business! (Score:2)
Go git 'em gipper! We need more nuclear war metaphors in network security, perhaps this will be a more FOX n
Boo....rrah! (Score:3, Funny)
Wow, at first I was going to laugh at AT&T...disgruntled former employee and all. Then I read the article...and wanted to clap. This is a meritous idea that hopefully will provide content to those of us who want more from this field.
Hopefully they won't outsource the reporting :P
Re:Boo....rrah! (Score:2, Funny)
wait for it..
PORN DIALERS!
C'mon, this was relevant what, seven years ago? That's eons in Internet years. I haven't used a modem in five years or so, and where I live isn't exactly bleeding edge. Maybe they'll do a big story on the Melissa virus next.
heck (Score:2)
[Person Sitting At Computer]
*click, click, click*
[Phone rings, answered]
Excited teenage voice: Hey d00d, look that's my attack on TV!
How interesting could this be? (Score:2, Insightful)
Re:How interesting could this be? (Score:2)
Wait, maybe we should call it Slashdot TV.
Re:How interesting could this be? (Score:2, Insightful)
Cure (Score:1)
Only for existing customers (Score:4, Informative)
it will be offered as an additional service to the company's customers
It's only going to be available to AT&T customers. That's too bad. Now it doesn't sound nearly as cool or half as useful to me.
Re:Only for existing customers (Score:1, Troll)
So if you can't have it for free, it's not as useful to you? sounds to me like you confuse usefulness and free-riding.
But anyone, as a "security professional" (what's that anyway? a bodyguard? a rent-a-cop? a Pentagon-paid mercenary like those operating right now in Iraq?), you probably won't be impressed by AT&T's service anyway, as it probably will be a channel for news
Re:Only for existing customers (Score:2)
This isn't that interesting and since there are many companies and people who are not AT&T customers, it not useful.
Geez, this is almost like shilling for AT&T--hardly worth a
Someone hacks the video feed, hilarity ensues (Score:5, Funny)
This is ISN. (Score:4, Funny)
Seen on a job availability notice for this project:
ANCHOR PREREQUISITES
- Ability to fluently read and speak '1337' while broadcasting
I can see this now (Score:3, Funny)
I heard you can watch the channel... (Score:2)
Delayed disclosure = Old News = Nobody Cares (Score:2, Interesting)
Most companies deal with IT security in secrecy, only disclosing new attacks and vulns right before they're ready to release a patch.
By the time it hits the news outlet, they'll be just too old for security professionals to be deemed useful.
Hopefully the metaphor doesn't go that far... (Score:1)
Which begs the question of: how much actual security news is there to report? During a large virus or worm attack, as during a war for CNN, there is certainly enough to fill 24 hours; otherwise, what exactly will they talk abou
Re:Hopefully the metaphor doesn't go that far... (Score:2)
They can take another page from CNN [cnn.com], and keep talking about a few celebrities, adding info to every repeat as gossip is gathered...
Re:Hopefully the metaphor doesn't go that far... (Score:1)
Re:Hopefully the metaphor doesn't go that far... (Score:2)
How long... (Score:2)
Broad audience (Score:1)
There are other sites available. (Score:5, Informative)
There are already a handful of really good sites out there. How will ATT compete with the likes of: The Internet Storm Center, [sans.org] Security Focus [securityfocus.com], Packet Storm [packetstormsecurity.org], and Security Peline [securitypipeline.com] which are current and relevant.
Also in the TFA, there were statements that the news serviecs will be offered to ATT customers. Will non-customers also have access to the site for free? If not, how does this compare to other managed services offerings from the likes of Symantec, ISS, and others?
Re:There are other sites available. (Score:2)
Where do you think AT&T will get their information?
The sad reality of this. (Score:2)
Just imagine the shows you could syndicate:
Off The Hook - eh, second thought, better not. That show is 99% politics, 1% Emmanuel Goldstein acting like a 21st-century Andy Rooney.
RISKS Digest - now in video form!
The Defaced Web page report - attrition.org's newest show featuring defaced websites for the past week, and what vulnerability caused it
Monday Night Infection - Which Windows worm is spreading faster than th
Re:The sad reality of this. (Score:2)
Just imagine the shows you could syndicate:
Here's one you'll love:
Dvorak!
That's right, our own loveable John Dvorak goes on a self-righteous rant about some tech isue or another...while the viewers on the web can vote in on whether or not they found his rant enjoyable and/or informative.
If they did, John gets pelted with rotten fruit, rotten fish, or extremely old cheese.
If they didn't, John gets pelted with shurikens, live (enraged) badgers, or dollops of blistering hot tar.
Either way, it's a ratin
Re:The sad reality of this. (Score:1)
Content provided by... (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Content provided by... (Score:1, Funny)
secure security? (Score:1)
Microsoft's new Channel? (Score:1)
I didnt know Microsoft was putting up another channel dedicated for Windows.
Should've called it PNN (Score:1)
Nahh, the PNN would have other news too... (Score:1, Funny)
Child kidnapped.
New killer computer virus released.
Adult kidnapped.
Terrorist arrested.
New killer human virus invades hospitals.
Spyware on your desktop.
Terrorist escapes capture.
Spies get your SS#.
Oh wait, we already have [cnn.com] that [foxnews.com].
Re:Should've called it PNN (Score:2)
No no, dude, it's so obvious:
The Pwn3d News Network.
Schwab
Bar at the bottom (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Bar at the bottom (Score:1)
Re:Bar at the bottom (Score:2)
Re:Bar at the bottom (Score:2)
Noc News... (Score:1)
1) Weather including solar storms
2) Network cuts
3) Running stats on virus attacks
4) Coporate outages
5) Independent outages reports -- so you know who to blame.
6) Known reasons for increased bandwidth usage (ex Hey new star wars trailer)
Still I th
Re:Noc News... (Score:1)
This just in... (Score:2, Troll)
Re:This just in... (Score:2)
And if I should feel ashamed, is it because I could read it at almost normal speed, or because I couldn't read it right at normal speed?
Feed Size???? (or news item;) (Score:1)
"In the news today, several major Customers of AT&Ts' network services reported denial of service attacks - coinciding with the inaguration of AT&T's new Internet Security Network.
According to Mark Manigerium of ReallyMegaBigCo LTD, 'The network guys here told everyone to keep a window open in the background - so everyone could listen to how much they were at risk from, like viruses and stuff. This has completely stopped traffic to out web site and cost us Megayons of Lira.'
Aske
AT&T Internet Protect (Score:1)
What is really left of AT&T? (Score:2)
Good for AT&T (Score:2)
As the objective, linked to article says - "This sounds like something pr
Ex-AT&T Employee speaks (Score:4, Informative)
-Adam
Ink-on-newsprint would be more efficient (Score:2)
Even ink-on-newsprint would be a more efficient way to deliver this, as it makes it easier to glance through the news and pick out the items of interest.
Sounds like it would only be of use to what we used to call "magazine managers," people whose only knowledge was a shallow smattering of buzzwords picked from from BYTE and Datamation.
Say! Maybe they could use this Internat thing
How useful is video? (Score:3, Interesting)
I am just sitting here trying to figure out how, if at all, they will be able to adapt this idiom to computer security reporting. Aside from this, I wonder if they're going to adopt a Headline News style "looping tape" format, or if they'll have shows. I actually could totally go for a Snow-Crash-CIC-wet-work style "reality" show demonstrating various white and black hats at work.
Re:How useful is video? (Score:1)
"We have some zombie's spamming in the 43.23.x.x range which our likely to participate in a DoS tommorow evening"
This Idea Needs More Thought (Score:2)
"Yo, b00tbl0ck!"
"What up?"
"My worm made ISN!"
"Whoop-de-shit. Remember that AOL outage last week? Mine. ISN covered it for two days."
"No way!"
"Way. Props on your first ISN troll, dude, but l337 is not you."
Just what we need.
Schwab
Some Good Points (Score:1)
AT&T shifting focus more to security (Score:2)
Recently the talk has started about Aurora http://www.networkworld.com/news/2005/053005-auro r a.html [networkworld.com]
which was available internally for some time and more recently became an offering (in test).
My own pet security project (OSS-based) within AT&T has recently been obtaining far more support too. I've also been in talks with some bigwigs about expanding some of our other security capabilities.
Everyone I have been in discussions with has stated one thing cl
Re:AT&T shifting focus more to security (Score:2)
If this is true, the first thing you need to do is filter all port 25 traffic from your broadband customers that isn't going to your SMTP relays. You do this, we'll have a noticeable drop in security problems on the Internet at large. Any other thing you do is trivial. Enforce your own TOS. If you don't allow broadband users to run their own servers, then you should be stoppin
why? (Score:1)
Hey, it's just like the weather channel... (Score:2)
There's thrill-a-minute TV for you (Score:2)
Coming up after the break, we'll go in-depth into the wild PHPNuke cross-scripting 'sploit released today by bl4ckh4t l4bz and ask experts if it really matters to anyone at all...
Can I make a suggestion? (Score:1)
I can see it now - a web site describing who's recently been slashdotted or fark-ed. Hell, why not even include email updates with automatic mirrordot links?
Yeah, I know, I know, not exactly security related per se, but nothing would help me out more sometimes than to know which direction the world's largest, legal, unintentional DDoS attack is pointing.
Showcasing insecurity becomes laughing stock. (Score:2)
Thus the irony: the software you will need in order to see the presentation is proprietary, and therefore, insecure by default--you can't legally inspect it to see what its doing when it runs. If you somehow learn that it is doing something you don't want it to do you can't legally improve it. And, to hold your community helpless
You can't help people by being willfully blind. (Score:2)
I don't know why people offer that as a viable option. It implicitly agrees with the parent stance by not criticizing its logic at all, yet simultaneously offers no course of action which allows people to help one another out of a fundamentally flawed situation. We should want to (and actually engage in) helping other people. My friends and neighbors might be amongst the viewers and, simply through ignorance of how computers work and what the free software movement proved is possible, might accept the bo
AT&T and SBC Merger Not Complete (Score:2, Informative)
For the lastest merger news [merger-news.com]. I believe is the public site for merger info.
AT&T and SBC Merger is not yet complete, so the companies are suppose to proceed as still two companies.
However, the time frame for this is after the merger SHOULD be complete - End of 05 or early 06. Though, this would seemly play very nicely with SBC IPTV plans for Project Lightspeed. Lightspeed PR [sbc.com]
All information in this post is based on public information released by SBC.
AT&T uniquely qualified for this (Score:3, Interesting)
Makes no sense (Score:1)
AT&T Mangled Security (Score:2, Informative)
A few good people at lower levels, but middle and upper management was *completely* clueless about real security. Complete disorganization, and falsification of reports.
But Hey! - now they'll be on video, so I guess that will make them the de facto experts.
Most. Boring. Channel. Ever! (Score:2)
Replace "" with '" (Score:2)
I feel (Score:2)
I'd be really intrested in finding out if it was purposeful or not - Someone at ATT involved with this project is bound to be a B5 fan.
Yes, that is what we need (Score:2)
RSS anyone? Just have some XML feed, and put effort into making the content so unbelievably timely and incisive that people will switch.
That is where you money should go, the steak not the sizzle.
Imagine, you want to know about *scriptkiddyvariant*
20 seconds $1000000 video logo of A-T-&-T Security channel, bringing you security... blah blah blah - TTWENTY FOUR HOURS A DAY!!! baddab boom bom b de da deheda
Re:AT&T Security Headline News ..... (Score:2)
That part wouldn't scroll...it would just be a static banner on the screen.
Re:AT&T Security Headline News ..... (Score:2)