New service to enable protection from DDoS Attacks

Dubai-UAE: 19 November, 2013 - eHosting DataFort (eHDF), the region's leading managed IT services provider and a member of TECOM Investments and du, the Middle East's fastest growing telecom service provider announced a partnership agreement to resell  du's Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) Protection solutions to combat the increasingly frequent DDoS attacks that could adversely impact organizations.

A Denial of Service (DoS) attack takes place when one remote malicious source targets the IT resources of an organization with the intention of disrupting an online application or service. Similarly, a Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attack occurs when a collection of systems  from one or more locations (compromised computers, botnet) are used to amplify an attack on the target organization, thereby creating a denial of service condition either by consuming the available internet bandwidth, or by impairing the server or application itself.

Commenting on the partnership agreement to this effect that was signed during GITEX, Fahad AlHassawi, Chief Commercial Officer, du, said: "DDoS attacks can have a crippling effect on an organization by compromising network, applications and service capacities, eventually affecting brand reputation, customer relationships and even revenues.

"Using a unique combination of hardware, software and managed solutions, our Managed Distributed Denial of Service Protection Service enables peace of mind for our customers. They can now respond in real-time to DDoS attacks, while keeping legitimate traffic flowing in to their network. With a like-minded partner such as eHDF, we are well positioned to grow aggressively in the expanding DDoS services space."

Yasser Zeineldin, CEO, eHosting DataFort, said: "Globally, organizations have registered a significant rise in DDoS attacks that result in substantial damages. Our partnership with du to offer DDoS protection services is a response to the market demand for efficient solutions that can safeguard IT networks. We are confident that our clients will benefit from this solution, which will help identify and filter out vicious DDoS attacks and result in a completely secure IT environment."

Traditionally, enterprises have resorted to mitigation tactics such as increasing internet bandwidth, implementing traffic prioritization (QoS), denying specific IP sources and implementing intrusion prevention systems. These solutions are no longer sufficient to counter frequent and complex DDoS attacks.

Managed DDoS Protection Services helps users respond to DDoS attacks in real time, maintaining legitimate traffic flow to customer networks by providing comprehensive proactive monitoring and DDoS resolution. The service utilizes network behavioural analyses designed to detect and mitigate volumetric and application layer distributed denial of service attacks. Intelligent policy-based routing ensures instant network traffic diversion, cleaning and injection back to the customer network.

eHosting DataFort has established itself as a market leader in the field of hosting and managed IT services, having been recognized year-on-year as the 'Best Managed Service Provider of the Year' across the Middle East. This year, the company has embarked on major capital investments to scale up its data centres in order to address the increased customer demand on its facilities and services.

du was recently named the Best Enterprise Service Provider and Best Managed Service Provider at the Telecoms World Middle East Awards. The recognitions were won due to du's innovative suite of services that offer Enterprise clients outstanding value.

For further information, please visit www.ehdf.com/

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About eHosting DataFort
eHosting DataFort is a fully owned subsidiary of TECOM Investments and is a leading provider of Managed IT and Cloud Infrastructure services. The organization has obtained a number of notable projects to deliver world-class Managed IT services to major enterprises across the region. eHosting DataFort's proven track record for managing an enterprise's IT infrastructure includes some of the largest organizations e.g. Dubai Financial Market, Dunia Finance, Societe Generale Bank, Ministry of Public Works, Tejuri.com, EFS Facilities Services, Khaleej Times and Panasonic.

Website: www.ehdf.com; Email: info@ehdf.com; Phone: +971 4 391 3040; Fax: +971 4 391 3050

About du
We opened for business in 2006. We offer mobile and fixed telephony, broadband connectivity and IPTV services to individuals, homes and businesses. We also provide carrier services for businesses and satellite up/downlink services for TV broadcasters.

As a rapidly-growing enterprise, we have a team of experts working to enhance and expand our bouquet of service offerings. Our people come from over 60 countries - we mirror the rich cultural diversity of our nation, while being able to serve our customers in a variety of languages.

Over 50% of our senior management team and customer-facing employees are UAE nationals, and we remain committed to providing fulfilling opportunities for quality talent in a cosmopolitan working environment.

By the end of Q1 2013, more than 6.6 million people and over 50,000 businesses have chosen to use our services. In a survey conducted by ARC Chart, we were named the Best Mobile Broadband Network 2012 in the Middle East and Africa region. We also ranked first in MENA's Standard & Poor/Hawkamah Environmental, Social and Corporate Governance Index in 2011.  

du is 39.5 percent owned by Emirates Investment Authority, 20.081 percent by Mubadala Development Company PJSC, 19.5 percent by Emirates Communications and Technology LLC and the remaining stake by public shareholders. du is listed on the Dubai Financial Market (DFM) and trades under the name 'du'.

For more information, please contact:
APCO Worldwide
Mathilda Saad
Dir.:         +9714 361 3879
Mob:       +971 55 699 9890
Email:    msaad@acpoworldwide.com

Melanie Antao Fernandes
(M) +971 55 4003233
(F) +971 4 3688001
Email:  mfernandes@apcoworldwide.com

du:
Saugat Chatterjee
Brand & Communications
du
Mobile: +971 55 9367045
Email: saugat.chatterjee@du.ae

© Press Release 2013