BROUGHT TO YOU BY TAXMAN / SCøøPEX THANX YOU FOR AB-USING AT&T CARDZ Subject: Telephone Security Device release Content-Length: 10971 For Immediate Release: September 10, 1992 AT&T INTRODUCES BREAKTHROUGH IN TELEPHONE SECURITY GREENSBORO, N.C. (September 10, 1992) -- AT&T has brought security to the phone you use every day. The AT&T Telephone Security Device Model 3600 provides advanced encryption technology to standard telephones, allowing businesses to discuss sensitive matters without fear that their words can be intercepted. "The Telephone Security Device is a breakthrough in telephone communications," said Ed Hickey, AT&T Vice President for Secure Communications Systems. "It makes your everyday phone a secure device, and it makes protecting your conversation as easy as making a regular phone call." In showing the device to corporate clients, AT&T has received an overwhelmingly positive reaction. "We've gotten the strongest reaction we've ever seen for a secure communications product," Hickey says. "This is the product they've been waiting for." The Model 3600 is compatible with both digital and analog phones. Designed for portability and ease of use, it's slightly larger than a hand-held calculator and weighs only about 1.5 pounds. Its small size and light weight allow it to be carried in a briefcase and used in the office, at home and when travel- ling. To use the device, simply disconnect your handset's cord from the phone and plug that cord into the Telephone Security Device. Plug the device's line into your phone and its power cord into an outlet, and it's ready to operate. To secure a call, simply press a button and the signal is automatically encrypted. An easy-to-read display indicates that the call has been secured. The Model 3600 uses an advanced encryption algorithm to turn the audio signal from your telephone handset into a digital stream of encrypted information that can be decrypted only by a Telephone Security Device attached to the phone you're calling. AT&T Bell Laboratories also designed an advanced voice- sampling algorithm that delivers superior voice quality on secure calls, rivaling the clarity of regular phone conversations. AT&T stands behind the Telephone Security Device with a full one-year warranty and optional extensions. The device will be shown publicly for the first time Monday at the American Society for Industrial Security seminar in San Antonio. The device retails for $1,195. It is available directly from the AT&T Secure Communications Customer Service Center (1 800 952-4082). For a more detailed look at communications security, the growing risks businesses face and AT&T's role in providing secure communications to business, call David Arneke, 919 279-7680 or Bill Jones, 919 279-6511, at AT&T. # # # COMMUNICATIONS SECURITY: A GROWING CONCERN FOR BUSINESS GREENSBORO, N.C. (September 10, 1992) -- How big an issue is communications security for businesses? Far bigger than most of the business community realizes. Theft of proprietary information is estimated to cost U.S. and Canadian businesses $20 billion a year. Some of the largest -- and most technologically sophisticated -- U.S. cor- porations have lost billions in the theft of trade secrets. But it's not just business competitors that companies have to be concerned about. Many nations are defining their national security as economic security, and they're putting their intel- ligence agencies into the business of industrial and economic espionage. "And yet, our experience in the market, and every study we've seen, indicates that top executives' awareness of the problem is low to non-existent," says Ed Hickey, AT&T Vice President, Secure Communications Systems. "Most businesses think it just won't happen to them." The FBI reports that foreign intelligence agencies already are actively spying on businesses to collect U.S. technology and proprietary information, posing a major national security threat. French intelligence agents, for example, have stolen computer secrets from IBM and Texas Instruments. Foreign governments have tried to steal fiber optic secrets from Corning. "The next war will not be fought with bombs and bullets; it will be fought with bits and bytes," Hickey says. Communications and computer systems are moving massive amounts of information more quickly and routinely, making those systems increasingly valuable to spies. With voice, fax, data and video to choose from, businesses can communicate virtually any information in any form, even over standard phone lines. As businesses depend on their communications systems more and more, they use them in more varied ways -- cellular phones to link mobile personnel, teleconferences and videoconferences to bring remote locations together, LANs and WANs for transmitting computer data. Those systems are delivering ever-greater volumes of infor- mation, much of it proprietary and extremely valuable to com- petitors. "Any company in a competitive business needs to be aware of what it's doing when it communicates sensitive information," Hickey says. "When you pick up the phone and talk about new-product development, strategic planning, financial transactions or any competition-sensitive matter, you need to know that your words are reaching only the people you want them to reach. Contract negotiations, legal actions and personnel issues all require confidentiality. And they often require discussions over the telephone. "It's not just extraordinary occasions that require security. How much information do you talk about on the phone every day that competitors or third parties could exploit to their advantage -- or to your disadvantage?" Hickey asks. "The same holds true for faxes, videoconferences, data transmission and any other electronic communication. It doesn't take much to tap a line for any of them." Interception and penetration technology is racing side by side with advances in communications technology. And the more powerful communications systems become, the higher the stakes rise. But most U.S. businesses are barely aware of the risks. And many business that are aware -- even some that have been vic- timized -- are not facing up to those risks. "Some businesses are simply unsophisticated. They don't realize the danger they're putting themselves in by not protec- ting their sensitive communications," Hickey says. "But many that are aware of the risks are simply practicing denial, choosing to believe that they don't need to do anything," Hickey says. "Some executives say their work 'isn't important enough to protect.' Others insist that everything is all right because they haven't been victimized yet -- as far as they know. "And, of course, some just don't think their proprietary information is important enough to protect if there's a price involved." A wide variety of products and services already exist to protect communications systems. Recognizing the need for businesses to protect their com- munications, AT&T began migrating the secure communications devices it provides to the government into the commercial market in 1991. The new AT&T Telephone Security Device, which encrypts the voice signals of conventional telephones, is the latest business product that AT&T has developed. "We designed the Telephone Security Device to meet the key demands that businesses have for secure communications," says Robin Hall, manager of commercial sales for AT&T Secure Com- munications Systems. "It's easy to use because companies don't want complicated equipment that requires time-consuming training or procedures. "It works with conventional phones because we've found that many companies don't want to part with the equipment they already own. "And it's a small, portable unit that can be carried easily in a briefcase because companies that have a good awareness of security realize that secure communications are necessary everywhere they do business." The Telephone Security Device was designed by AT&T Bell Laboratories, which developed the technology for AT&T's highly successful secure products for the U.S. government. Bell Laboratories also developed an advanced voice-sampling algorithm to raise the secure voice quality of the device to nearly the level of toll calls. The device joins several other secure products that AT&T has introduced to provide end-to-end protection for business com- munications. They include: -- The AT&T Model 4100 Secure Voice/Data Terminal, which provides secure voice and data communications in one integrated package. It works as a full-featured telephone for voice calls and as a smart modem for data applications. -- The AT&T Model 4100C Secure Cellular Voice/Data Terminal, which provides security wherever cellular coverage exists. -- The AT&T Model 4100M Secure MERLIN TM Voice/Data Ter- minal, compatible with AT&T Merlin telephone systems. -- The AT&T Model 4100V Secure Voice/Data/Video Terminal, a secure videotelephone that operates over standard telephone lines. The AT&T secure videophone provides the ultimate in authentication -- real-time, color, motion video. It also transmits high-resolution still images, including photographs, maps, documents or virtually any other printed material. -- The AT&T Gretacoder line of high-speed data encryptors, which protect computer transmissions of up to 2 Megabits per second. AT&T develops and markets these products through AT&T Secure Communications Systems, a business unit headquartered in Greensboro, North Carolina. The organization also provides secure systems engineering and integration services. Its cus- tomers include the governments of the United States and other nations, and financial institutions and multinational cor- porations around the world. AT&T Secure Communications Systems also develops products through two subsidiary companies highly respected in the secure communications field: AT&T Datotek, based in Dallas, Texas, which develops products for secure mobile communications; and AT&T Gretag Data Systems of Regensdorf, Switzerland, which develops high-speed data encryptors. "There are pockets of awareness throughout the business community," Hickey says. "Aerospace and other defense-related industries, for example, have a much higher awareness of security than most because of their work with the Department of Defense. "The financial industry is doing better, particularly in Europe." The State Department's Overseas Security Advisory Council, a group of major U.S. corporations, is working to develop greater awareness of the risks, particularly for businesses with operations outside the United States. "But until business in general gets the message, immense amounts of sensitive information are at risk."