RIYADH, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, May 6, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- The Saudi Arabia Ministry of Education announced today that it has chosen the alliance of Etihad Etisalat (Mobily) and IBM (NYSE: IBM) to boost information security throughout its organization.

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Managed and cloud security services are offered to the Ministry through IBM's Security Operations Center, (SOC) hosted in Mobily's Tier IV certified data center. Using sophisticated predictive analytics technology, the services will help the Ministry anticipate and mitigate threats and any possible breaches, providing higher efficiency and productivity to the Ministry's operations.

Mobily and IBM will utilize the Data Security Services to provide a comprehensive expert assessment of the current data protection capabilities at the Ministry. This will help pinpoint where sensitive data resides within the infrastructure and how to protect it. Mobily and IBM will also work with the Ministry to assess its unique needs and data security requirements to develop a holistic data protection strategy aimed at minimizing the impact to business exposure.

"The recent increasing rate of security threats from the adoption of new and existing technologies has raised awareness for security protection and management. Through the alliance with IBM, we want to ensure the highest level of security for the Ministry of Education and our customers in the Kingdom," said Dr. Marwan Al-Ahmadi, Chief Business Officer, Mobily.

The security services offered to the Ministry through Mobily and IBM are designed to provide the highest level of around-the-clock protection and help proactively manage emerging threats. These include real-time analysis and an early warning system for potential threats, while building security correlation and analytics capabilities through QRadar solution at the ministry datacenters, while ensuring no access to the ministry data from outside the country.

"Security threats and targeted attacks are on the increase in the region and globally. Therefore it is important for organizations to take a proactive approach to protect their infrastructure and information," said Mohamed Abdelhak, Country General Manager IBM Saudi Arabia. "The Mobily and IBM security solution for the Ministry of Education is an excellent example of how organizations can improve their IT security in ways that not only allow innovation but help accelerate it."

The SOC will leverage the IBM X-Force® Protection System back end managed security services infrastructure to assist analysts with the aggregation, correlation, analysis and prioritization of security logs and events. With the help of this global infrastructure, IBM analyzes more than 15 billion security events each day from devices located in more than 140 countries.

About IBM Cloud Computing
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About Mobily
Etihad Etisalat (Mobily) was established in 2004 by a consortium led by Etisalat, the UAE based telecom conglomerate. Mobily is the official brand name of Etihad Etisalat, renowned as the second mobile service provider in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.

The awarded 25-Year telecommunication mobile license was complemented by a subsequent purchase of a 3G license. Mobily is the 1st Saudi communications company to get an operation license for 3rd generation services and beyond. In December 2004, Mobily was listed on Tadawul Stock Exchange. Today, Mobily equates to 40%+ market share of the mobile subscriptions in the Kingdom. In March 2008, Mobily was granted approval by CITC (Communication and Information Technology Commission) to acquire Bayanat al-Oula which was a licensed Data Service Provider for a price of SAR 1.5 Billion. And, in November 2008, Mobily acquired absolute majority stakes in Zajil, the leading Saudi ISP (Internet Service Provider).

About Ministry of Education
Founded in 1953, the Ministry of Education, Saudi Arabia is the government agency overseeing education throughout Saudi Arabia. Based in Riyadh, the organization seeks to provide opportunities for education to every citizen of learning age (up to K 12 education level), according to his or her abilities, and to facilitate these opportunities by providing the appropriate infrastructure and services. To these ends, the agency constructs and renovates facilities, creates and reviews curriculum, trains teachers and enacts standards.

Press Contacts:
Jumana Akkawi
External Relations Leader, IBM Middle East
Direct: +971 4 4498353
Email: jumanaak@ae.ibm.com

Mike Azzi
IBM Communications
Direct: 914-766-1561
Email : azzi@us.ibm.com

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SOURCE IBM

SOURCE: IBM