Reuters outsources to meet security rules

Reuters has outsourced security monitor to strengthen defences in response to stricter regulations within the financial services sector.

The company reviewed the threat of viruses and hacking to its global IT systems and concluded that it needed to tighten network security.

Under the terms an outsourcing agreement with security specialist NetSec covering all parts of Reuters' business, the company is being provided with an early warning system against malicious code and hacking attempts.

'We have links into a lot of banks and financial companies and they require us to have good security ourselves as part of their regulatory requirements,' said Malcolm Kelly, global IT security director at Reuters.

Kelly says a dedicated supplier can provide greater around the clock monitoring and expertise, leaving in-house IT security team to work on other projects.

'We believe we can enhance our security programme further by building a comprehensive 24x7 monitoring capability with global coverage and a centralised means to track and distribute information and actions about threats and vulnerabilities,' said Kelly.

NetSec monitors systems activity via network intrusion sensors and firewalls across key parts of Reuters? network in Europe, the US and Asia.

It feeds back information on security devices, unusual events and alarms using a web portal, allowing Reuters' IT security department to customise reports, log queries and create summaries for management.

'It can also look out for new suspicious attacks and prevent something like the next Nimda type attack hitting our systems,' said Kelly.

'Most of the activity is around malicious software but it also looks for suspicious activity such as people sending things out that they shouldn't.'

Reuters has already outsourced penetration testing and some security tasks for internet based systems and says it is considering doing the same with host compliance monitoring in the future.