Forescout Technologies, Inc announced the expansion of its global alliance with BT to include network segmentation and operational technology (OT) security with Forescout's comprehensive device visibility and control platform. By combining BT's managed service expertise with Forescout's platform, customers can understand their cyber and operational risk profile and strengthen their security posture through complete situational awareness. 

Network security has become one of today's most complex cyber security issues. With a huge upsurge in the volume and diversity of devices, including IoT and OT, organizations face a significantly increased attack surface. Comprehensive device visibility coupled with real time situational analysis and mitigation via network segmentation is critical to reduce security risk.

With the addition of Forescout eyeSegment to its Managed Network Access Control service, BT customers can now reduce their attack surface through policy-based segmentation, as well as benefiting from end-to-end device visibility and control. BT will also be launching Forescout eyeInspect, which gives organisations visibility and control of their OT and IoT assets and allows them to quickly detect threats to their OT networks.

"Enterprise IT and OT networks that lack the ability to sufficiently identify and categorize all devices and report on their security posture are susceptible to increased risk of attacks," said Keith Weatherford, vice president of worldwide channels, Forescout. "BT's managed offering, supported by Forescout's platform, offers customers the industry's first fully-integrated solution for unified IT and OT security. This allows BT customers to identify and manage all assets connected to their networks, and then logically segment them to limit attack surfaces and prevent lateral movement in case of an incident."

David Stark, Security Portfolio Director at BT, added: "Over the last 18 months, almost all businesses have had to make huge organisational and technological changes that have radically altered their cyber risks. One of the biggest challenges facing security teams today is visibility of the devices connecting to their networks, and the ability to quickly isolate and control potential security issues. Our partnership with Forescout means that we can ensure the highest levels of cyber resilience for our customers across their entire estate, including cloud, data centre, on-premise and operational technology."

With BT's comprehensive managed security service, customers can outsource the full monitoring and management of the Forescout platform and benefit from the following capabilities:

• Discovery of all managed and unmanaged devices in real time as they connect to the network
• Continuous assessment of device hygiene, compliance and risk status
• Segmentation of devices into logical groups to enforce least privilege access and minimised attack surface
• Enforcement of compliance and zero trust polices and control actions
• Orchestration of security workflows and automated response through integration with a wide range of other security devices
  

To learn more about BT Security visit https://www.globalservices.bt.com/en/aboutus/our-services/security