Verizon also took one more step toward ease of use in its Secure Gateway network-based firewall. Customers previously had to use a Web-based interface to define and modify their policies in Secure Gateway for handling Internet traffic. Those who had their own firewall hardware on site used proprietary management software from Verizon called Online Guardian.

Secure Gateway is now available as a fully managed service, in which Verizon security experts help customers set their firewall policies. Meanwhile, Verizon has extended Online Guardian to manage Secure Gateway, so administrators who use on-site hardware and the network-based firewall can easily maintain the same policies, said Jonathan Nguyen, director of global security solutions. Secure Gateway costs $1,000 to start and about $500 to $1,100 per month.

Also on Wednesday, Verizon introduced the Internet Security Assessment service, which can probe an organization's network and the devices on it and identify vulnerabilities, Nguyen said. Among other things, the assessment can discover how the network is being used, what kinds of traffic are traveling over it, and whether any of the company's systems are tied into botnets. Verizon recommends customers get an Internet Security Assessment quarterly.