The new services will be delivered over a CenturyLink-built security platform that leverages both traditional security information and event management (SIEM) technologies and customized tools to provide an extended set of analysis and response capabilities. The fully managed platform is designed to be the backbone for an organization's current and future security services, as it offers a holistic approach for protecting networks, as well as preventing, mitigating and responding to attacks. Using the platform's web-based security portal, customers and CenturyLink security experts can access real-time data to quickly analyze and act on security incidents in their critical environments.

The platform features the following integrated services:

    --  Security Log Monitoring - A comprehensive log correlation and monitoring
        service ingests event data from a multitude of servers and is backed
        24X7 by GAIC-certified security analysts.
    --  Trending & Data Analysis - A data analysis engine adds deep historical
        insights to any log data and enables comprehensive reporting, helping
        teams understand their evolving threat landscape.
    --  Incident Management and Response Service - An overlay expert response
        team is available 24x7 to vet incidents and respond quickly to possible
        attacks.
    --  Managed Protection Services - An automated device monitoring and
        management service provides deep insights from next-generation firewall
        services.
    --  Vulnerability & Risk Monitoring - A proactive scanning service discovers
        and prioritizes possible threats, and eradicates them before impact.

"Organizations need to become more threat-focused by quickly identifying and prioritizing potential adversaries and vulnerabilities," said Tim Kelleher, vice president, IT security services, at CenturyLink. "Our Managed Security Services Suite enables enterprises to meet this challenge head-on. By combining tool-based and human-powered threat management activities, CenturyLink helps organizations ease the burden of having to manage security in-house."

The suite delivers several benefits, including:

    --  An analytics platform and intuitive customer portal, which gives
        customers the ability to analyze data, report on potential threats and
        garner real-time insight into security events. Users can quickly
        leverage the portal's many features, including at-a-glance threat
        profiles, tracking, ticket creation and resolution reporting.
    --  A flexible SIEM back-end, which can accept client-specific asset and
        vulnerability data from literally any location or alternative SIEM and
        provide insights on real-time threat activity. This allows organizations
        to reap the benefits of their past cybersecurity investments when
        migrating to CenturyLink's security platform.
    --  More effective compliance capabilities, through a combination of
        human-powered and automated resources and tools that address the need
        for proactive log correlation and analysis, incident-response and
        continuous monitoring. The suite is designed to help customers more
        closely adhere to certain compliance requirements, such as Payment Card
        Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DSS), Sarbanes-Oxley (SOX), and
        Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA), among
        others.

"With breaches, it's no longer a matter of if, but when they will happen," said Christina Richmond, program director, security services, IDC. "Many organizations still aren't equipped well enough to safeguard their networks and customer information. Offerings like CenturyLink's Managed Security Services Suite are well suited to help enterprises and small businesses defend themselves."

The suite furthers CenturyLink's ongoing commitment to security services. CenturyLink, which helps organizations deploy flexible hybrid IT strategies that drive positive business outcomes, delivers a broad range of IT security solutions, consulting and network services. The company expects to continue investing in the security area. CenturyLink has appeared in Gartner's Magic Quadrant for Managed Security Services, Worldwide(1 )for the past three years. Also, Forrester Research named CenturyLink a leader in The Forrester Wave(TM): DDoS Services Providers, Q3 2015.