Covad Communications is partnering with security technology company McAfee to offer its small to mid-sized business customers a managed security service to protect against hackers, spam, spyware and other threats.

Managed security services are on the rise nationally, as more businesses rely on Internet connections to do business and Internet threats continue to proliferate. Covad will offer McAfee Total Protection for Small Business.

“Small to mid-sized businesses are the least protected from these threats because they don’t have on-site IT staff, and they don’t have time to manage regularly downloading the latest protection,” said Anne Merkert, vice president of product marketing for Covad. “Too often, they rely on consumer-grade security that may have come with their devices. This is a comprehensive service – it includes anti-virus, anti-spam, spyware, plus a desktop firewall. And it’s a managed service to keep their security up-to-date.”

The McAfee service will be offered with Covad’s broadband services, including regular and bonded T-1, business-class DSL and fixed wireless broadband.

“We are interested in adding value on top of broadband access,” Merkert said. “We partnered with McAfee because they are a strong band name, and it made more sense to partner than to try to recreate this on our own.”