May 6, 2024 at 10:08AM
AT&T completed divesting its cybersecurity services and formed a joint venture, LevelBlue, focusing on managed cybersecurity services. The company will incorporate AT&T’s cybersecurity assets and plans to invest in technology and customer service. LevelBlue aims to tailor offerings for market share growth and faces the challenge of growing its team amidst high demand for cybersecurity talent.
From the meeting notes, it is evident that AT&T has successfully completed the divestiture of its cybersecurity services group, and formed a joint venture with more than 1,000 employees in ten countries, resulting in the establishment of the new company, LevelBlue. This new venture, chaired and led by Robert McCullen, aims to focus on managed cybersecurity services, leveraging AT&T’s assets from its previously acquired AlienVault, such as the Open Threat Exchange (OTX) community.
LevelBlue is poised to offer a wide array of services including managed firewall, secure web gateways, email gateways, content filtering, and services for managing security operations centers (SOCs). The company also plans to invest in people and technology to cater to customers from a cybersecurity perspective.
The move to divest itself of assets is a strategic decision by AT&T, which is currently grappling with debt incurred from various acquisitions. The formation of LevelBlue provides the new entity with the flexibility to tailor its offerings and grow market share. Furthermore, the high demand for cybersecurity talent presents an opportunity for the managed security services market, a segment in which LevelBlue operates.
The company aims to expand beyond its current slate of services and address challenges posed by the commoditization of the cybersecurity market. It is also looking to establish a close partnership with AT&T, initially servicing the network customers and leveraging a close relationship with mutual clients between network and cyber.
Additionally, LevelBlue is setting up an internal research team, Blue Labs, focusing on threat research and new product development, including AI capabilities. The company intends to utilize threat indicators from the Open Threat Exchange and its community of security professionals to enhance threat detection and response capabilities.
Overall, LevelBlue is strategically positioned to capitalize on the growing demand for managed cybersecurity services and aims to differentiate itself in the market through tailored offerings and strong partnerships.