In a recent move Verizon, the telecom giant, has launched a new security assessment and certification program for Small- and medium-sized businesses with fewer than 1000 employees are the target market for a new security assessment and certification program .

The company has had a similar offering for larger companies for more than a decade as stated by , Verizon Director of Medium Business Marketing Patrick Sullivan.

Verizon’s offering, dubbed Verizon Security Management Program, is aimed at SMBs not having extensive IT resources. It will advise companies about the steps they should take to secure their data. The carrier might recommend, for example, that the organization purchase a security suite, such as the McAfee suite offered by Verizon to provide anti-virus and spam protection.

Participants can choose either SMP Business Remote, with prices starting at $12,000 a year, or SMP Business On-Site, which starts at $22,000 a year. With the remote offering, Verizon puts a security management expert at the customer’s site to do a physical inspection and internal scanning.

Companies that opt for the on-site offering may be able to obtain an SMP Certification from Verizon to indicate that the organization’s information security controls and procedures have been examined, verified and validated against ISO 27002, a security standard of the International Standards Organization.