BT Group weaves Global Fabric to stitch together cloud services and cover security gaps

Telecommunications company BT Group announced the upcoming launch of its new network-as-a-service product, Global Fabric, this week. This product is designed to protect companies that use a range of online services across multiple cloud platforms, a necessity as artificial intelligence (AI) is increasingly contributing to the rise of cybersecurity threats.

Necessary background 

BT Group is a technology group from the United Kingdom that primarily provides telecommunications and related digital products and services. It operates in 180 countries. Last month, the company released a report examining the present state of cyberthreats. 

According to the report, web-connected devices are scanned over 1,000 times a day. While the majority of these scans — around 78% — are for legitimate security purposes, the remaining scans are done with malicious intent to probe the security vulnerabilities of the device. AI has escalated these cybersecurity threats by enabling hackers to use automated, disposable bots that can scan for system weaknesses at a much faster pace. Furthermore, the disposable nature of these bots makes it challenging to trace and identify attackers.

Companies and individuals using digital services hosted across multiple clouds are particularly vulnerable to these kinds of digital attacks. Since the services are fundamentally different, isolated products, they lack cohesive, interlocking security measures, making it easier for attackers to exploit their vulnerabilities. For example, sensitive data moved between platforms can be more easily intercepted due to inconsistent security protocols across different services.

Preparing for launch

These risks are part of the reason why BT is launching Global Fabric in early 2025. Global Fabric is designed to connect users, devices, and services across multiple clouds, including AI-driven software. By offering a service that accounts for multi-cloud usage, BT aims to reduce weak points in cybersecurity, enhancing the overall security of digital environments.

Having a service that accounts for multiple cloud usage can help reduce weak links in multi-cloud environments and improve cybersecurity overall. This would enable companies to choose products that they think work best for their system while minimising the risk of digital breaches or data stealing. 

Companies that use legacy networks, however, wil face challenges setting up or modifying their existing connectivity services. BT claims to have accounted for this difficulty with Global Fabric, such that they can expedite the progress and install the new service quickly. 

To support the new product, BT installed network infrastructure in more than 45 Cloud data centers around the world. This would provide customers with a choice of locations from which to access Global Fabric services, and tailor their usage to their unique operational, market, and regulatory needs. 

“BT’s Global Fabric will help customers hit the cloud running,” said Colin Bannon, Chief Technology Officer, BT Business. “It will give them a choice of the world’s best cloud locations to interconnect with their customers, partners and suppliers, making them easier to do business with not just today but tomorrow too.”