Saudi Telecom Company and Thales launch enterprise cloud encryption service

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates, Dec. 11, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Thales, a leader in critical information systems, cybersecurity and data security, and Saudi Telecom Company (STC), the largest telecoms company in Saudi Arabia, announce the launch of a cloud encryption service for enterprise customers allowing them to protect and control their data in the cloud.

Thales signed a Cloud Service Provider agreement with STC to provide data encryption solutions through the STC cloud platform and to further develop secured Information Communications Technology (ICT) business in Saudi Arabia.

Enterprises are increasingly turning to cloud environments to help them save time and money. While these technologies are digitally transforming businesses, they present some challenges. Enterprise data is fair game for cybercriminals, regardless of operating environment, and meeting compliance and best practices requirements isn't always straightforward.

Vormetric Transparent Encryption from Thales encrypts sensitive data before it leaves the enterprise and is saved in the cloud storage environment, enabling information security teams to establish the visibility and control they need around sensitive assets. This solution ensures that data in the STC public cloud is secure and trusted by delivering seamless high performance encryption, access control and strong key management.

Talal Albakr - Vice President Cloud Services at Saudi Telecom Company says: "Digital transformation is at the heart of Saudi Arabia's Vision 2030 for a strong, thriving and stable economy that provides opportunity for all. Our partnership with Thales is designed to deliver secure and trusted public cloud services to STC customers across the Kingdom and the wider Middle East region, allowing them to establish strong safeguards around their sensitive data and applications in the cloud, satisfying local compliance requirements and providing greater control and flexibility."

Philip Schreiber, Regional Sales Director, at Thales eSecurity Middle East, Africa and South Asia says: "It is a common misconception that by moving to the cloud, businesses are relinquishing all control of their data. By applying encryption and practicing secure encryption key management, companies can ensure that only authorized users have access to sensitive data. Even if lost, stolen, or accessed without authorization, encrypted data is unreadable and essentially meaningless without its key. STC have selected a best-in-class data encryption solution that not only ensures their customers remain firmly in control of their data but also ensures that data remains secure and trusted in their cloud environment."

About Saudi Telecom Company
Saudi Telecom Company (STC) is the leading national provider of telecommunication, mobile, voice, broadband, internet & cloud services in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.

STC Cloud offers a full range of cloud services at cloud.stc.com.sa. This includes Virtual Data Center, Ready-Made Deployments, and Subscription-Based Services. Cloud Computing provides customers with the ability to have their computing needs addressed through STC's secure, robust, and highly redundant cloud, away from resource intensive and IT management heavy setups.

STC Cloud offers its own Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS), and has partnered with leading technological vendors for Platform as a Service (PaaS), and Software as a Service (SaaS) offerings. All STC Cloud services are managed via its cloud marketplace which is available at cloud.stc.com.sa

About Thales eSecurity
Thales eSecurity is the leader in advanced data security solutions and services that deliver trust wherever information is created, shared or stored. We ensure that the data belonging to companies and government entities is both secure and trusted in any environment – on-premises, in the cloud, in data centres or big data environments – without sacrificing business agility. Security doesn't just reduce risk, it's an enabler of the digital initiatives that now permeate our daily lives – digital money, e-identities, healthcare, connected cars and, with the internet of things (IoT), even household devices. Thales provides everything an organisation needs to protect and manage its data, identities and intellectual property, and meet regulatory compliance – through encryption, advanced key management, tokenisation, and privileged-user control and high-assurance solutions. Security professionals around the globe rely on Thales to confidently accelerate their organisation's digital transformation. Thales eSecurity is part of Thales Group.

Industry insight and views on the latest key management trends can be found on the Thales e-Security blog at blog.thalesesecurity.com.

Follow Thales e-Security on Twitter @Thalesesecurity, and on LinkedIn, Facebook and YouTube.

About Thales
Thales is a global technology leader for the Aerospace, Transport, Defence and Security markets. With 64,000 employees in 56 countries, Thales reported sales of €14.9 billion in 2016. With over 25,000 engineers and researchers, Thales has a unique capability to design and deploy equipment, systems and services to meet the most complex security requirements. Its exceptional international footprint allows it to work closely with its customers all over the world.

Positioned as a value-added systems integrator, equipment supplier and service provider, Thales is one of Europe's leading players in the security market. The Group's security teams work with government agencies, local authorities and enterprise customers to develop and deploy integrated, resilient solutions to protect citizens, sensitive data and critical infrastructure.

Thales offers world-class cryptographic capabilities and is a global leader in cybersecurity solutions for defence, government, critical infrastructure providers, telecom companies, industry and the financial services sector. With a value proposition addressing the entire data security chain, Thales offers a comprehensive range of services and solutions ranging from security consulting, data protection, digital trust management and design, development, integration, certification and security maintenance of cybersecured systems, to cyberthreat management, intrusion detection and security supervision through cybersecurity Operation Centres in France, the United Kingdom, The Netherlands and Hong Kong.

SOURCE Thales