Under cyberattack, tech giants innovate

Two of the largest US technology firms rolled out products recently that reflect a new normal for those who operate important online networks. Now under attack "constantly" by cyber criminals, government agents and other hackers, companies are finding the best way to keep their users and customers safe on the Internet is to innovate.

The new tools from Facebook and AT&T are designed to do just that in this heightened threat environment. After more than three years of development, AT&T demonstrated a new security tool in San Francisco (Ca) it says will allow it to respond to network threats 95% faster. The product, called Threat Intellect, combines machine learning analysis with all the data that AT&T has collected on myriad cyber threats. Facebook, meanwhile, launched a new encryption feature for users of its Messenger service. The so-called end-to-end encryption can be applied to any two users who select it for an online conversation. The technology produces a set of two encryption keys — known only to the users — that make it impossible even for Facebook to see the content of the messages.