Bhushan Bhad
s it possible to eradicate evil completely from this
I world? Not at all! Most will respond. However, some will say, ‘Why not? It can happen!’And they could be right, but only for a limited duration.
Even if the bad is removed completely, it will somehow take up another form, another refuge, known or unknown, and come back to challenge people in newer ways. Sounds familiar, right? We can identify this mechanism in almost every aspect of life.
One important aspect of life in modern times is the digital revolution. To say technology has transformed the world would be an understatement. The advantages of digitization with advanced technology solutions could be described for hours. Nonetheless, there are equal threats too. These threats in the technology world are termed cybercrimes or cyber-attacks. And, as previously stated, no matter what steps are taken, they will keep on evolving. The threats will continue to loom over us unless and until regular cyber threat analysis and appropriate measures are implemented.
Nowadays, keeping up to date with technology has become a necessity for businesses to enhance their operations and
customer service. This means the digital world is here to stay. Nevertheless, different cyber criminals find different ways to access a computer or network server to cause harm to the organization’s or individual’s resources.
Threats like Malware, Ransomware, Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attacks, Spam and Phishing, Virus attacks, and Corporate Account Takeover (CATO) keep on occurring every now and then.
Businesses are required to protect their digital resources from every possible cyber threat these days like never before. Cyber-attacks can come from any corner of the world at any time. A little lapse can cause a major setback for the organization’s resources and its market reputation as well. The only way for businesses to keep their digital resources protected from cyber criminals is to partner with world-class cybersecurity solution providers. Joining hands will help them understand the threats and implement the latest cybersecurity solutions for their networks and computer systems.
And hence, in this edition of Insights Success , The Most Trusted Cybersecurity Solution Providers, we have brought you a curated list of some of the most trusted cybersecurity solution providers across the globe. These
firms have years of expertise in building cybersecurity solutions from ground zero. They not only offer world-class cybersecurity solutions but also keep analyzing the latest risks and threats to upgrade their solutions based on the current needs.
Lastly, do read the CxO standpoint by the industry experts and the well-researched exclusive articles written by our inhouse editorial team.
- Vishal Golekar
,A cyber threat can come from any corner of the globe. To counter it, partnering with world-class cybersecurity solution providers is a must.
Alacrinet alacrinet.com BitNinja bitninja.com
Alacrinet has been providing significant cybersecurity solutions to its clients across all 50 states of the United States as well as its territories.
BitNinja, being the first integrated server defense network in the world, it combines the most powerful defense mechanism and provides a broad level of protection.
Confluera confluera.com
Confluera has created a faster and more accurate way to identify and intercept cyberattacks that are already in progress.
LogRhythm logrhythm.com
Mantix4 mantix4.com
Christopher O'Malley President and CEO
Blane Erwin CEO
LogRhythm helps security operations teams protect critical data and infrastructure from cyberthreats.
Nozomi Networks nozominetworks.com
OutThink outthink.io
Mantix4’s M4 Award Winning Cyber Threat Hunting Platform was originally developed by a team of defense intelligence, cyber security, and military experts.
Nozomi Networks helps minimize risk and maximize operational resilience by providing exceptional network visibility, threat detection and actionable insights across your critical infrastructure.
Flavius Plesu Founder and CEO
OutThink is a London-based company, recognised globally for innovation in cyber security.
QuintessenceLabs quintessencelabs.com
Secureworks secureworks.com
Wings2i wings2i.com
Dr Vikram Sharma Founder and CEO
QuintessenceLabs takes pride in providing data security solutions and associated management without needing complete rethinking of the enterprise security system.
Wendy Thomas President and CEO
Secureworks protects organizations with battle-tested, best-inclass cybersecurity solutions.
Wings2i was founded with a key aim of being among the most trusted knowledge partners for global organizations. The idea was to enable businesses through providing wings of knowledge and expertise.
As a leading cybersecurity and information technology consultant, Alacrinet's goal is to deliver the right services and solutions that meet its clients' IT security strategy.
Cybersecurity is one of the top demands in every company’s IT department these days. The expansion of the digital world and the services that have sprung up to accompany the digital journey necessitate the protection of a company’s data and other valuable resources on the vast network known as the internet.
Without ensuring the security of your valuable digital resources, you expose your firm to potential risks of getting hacked, piracy, spyware, malware, and virus attacks, as well as other known and unknown online frauds or scams.
In today’s tech world, doing everything possible to meet the cybersecurity requirement is the only viable option for conducting business in a digital environment. Hiring a firm that has the expertise, significant ground hold, and experience in the cybersecurity space is always an effective solution.
One such company which meets all of the above criteria is Alacrinet. The company has been providing significant cybersecurity solutions to its clients across all 50 states of the United States as well as its territories. The company is a well established player in the cybersecurity arena. Its employees are experts in meeting the client’s cybersecurity and IT requirements. They possess years of vast experience in the industry.
Alacrinet presents the best results in a way that is simple to understand and implement. Whether you are looking for the newest security solution or how to integrate your old systems with new ones, the company offers the best solutions for you.
Alacrinet was co-founded by Brian Bouchard (President and CEO) in 2002, to meet the rising demand for technology consulting services and to successfully implement enterprise solutions in businesses acrossAmerica.
Brian used to work at IBM. He was hired out of college at IBM, from the University of Hawaii. At that time, IBM’s hardware division was very successful. These hardware products were sold through a channel. In 2000, Lou Gerstner, CEO of IBM, announced that they were going to move IBM software to the channel.
Brian thought of this development as an interesting opportunity. He talked with some of his colleagues, convincing them to start a company together that is basically an IBM channel partner focused on selling IBM software through the channel to existing IBM customers—and those
new IBM customers that they could bring to IBM as well by selling IBM’s enterprise software solutions.
“Because we were all specialists in a lot of the solutions as global consultants for IBM, and there was not a lot of expertise in the software area. This is kind of when it was all developing and growing, especially web-based software. So, WebSphere was an area we were really focused on,” he adds.
At the beginning journey of the company, the dot-com bubble was bursting in the Bay Area, Brian thought it was not a great time to have the company’s operations there. So, he and his colleagues decided to move the company down to San Diego.
Because of the vacuum that was left by all companies that were operating exclusively in the Bay Area, moving the business to Southern California turned out to be a great opportunity for the team. The company got a lot of customers right away. Brian notes, “Well, that big burst of energy into the Bay Area kind of left a lot of other places in Southern California with needs that weren’t getting fulfilled. So, we quickly got some customers down there.”
The company’s first three customers were Jack in the Box corporation, the US Navy, and the San Diego Zoo. It went really well. “We quickly grew our company during that tough time in the technology sector. But we grew it in another market that was actually wanting to catch up,” he adds. In 2006,Alacrinet moved its operations to PaloAlto.The
The company has created a team of individuals that have joyous promptitude to achieve a common goal or to eagerly and with promptness satisfy its customers' needs.
The Most Trusted Cybersecurity Solu on Providers
majority of the company’s customers, in the beginning, were the Pacific West places like the San Francisco Bay Area, San Diego, Los Angeles, Arizona, Phoenix, and even a little bit of Las Vegas. So that is kind of where the company’s foothold started.
As a leading cybersecurity and information technology consultant, Alacrinet’s goal is to deliver the right services and solutions that meet its clients’ITsecurity strategy.
Brian says, “The whole idea in our plan is to continue to add more as we see our customers’needs evolve. But our goal is to be a singular provider for our customers of whatever their cybersecurity needs are that pertain to creating the most effective and protective ability to secure their organizations and create a strong security posture.”
The company offers expert services in below key areas:
It can go by a number of names - Pentest, Penetration Test, Ethical Hacking, Vulnerability Tests - but the goal is consistent: identify areas of risk so that your team can proactively remediate. Engaging a third party to test the strength of your network and applications is the best way to minimize your security risks and meet compliance requirements.
“There are various kinds of pen tests. There are PCI compliance pen tests, there is ransomware readiness, and assessment pen tests. We have a whole portfolio of pen tests that we offer to customers based on what type of company they are,” Brian tells us.
Alacrinet gives specialized MSSP services to its clients based on their customers’ demands. The company has automation, orchestration, and methodology for an effective and efficient system to provide clients with the best solutions. It also assigns a dedicated, U.S.-based person to every customer’s account to best address their pain points and provides the best level of customer service that the client expects. The company gives its customers a clear understanding of what goes into the cost.
The company takes a vendor-agnostic approach and customizes its services to clients’ business needs. With two
levels of service to match client needs, the company handles anything from logging and configuration to response and remediation. Whether fully managed or co-managed, its team of experts is ready to enhance your security posture.
Below are the most-requested security services (MSSP) Alacrinet provides.
Implementing the leading SIEM (Security Intelligence Event Management) solutions makes it possible to view logs of all activity on your network and respond quickly to high-profile events. However, analysts still need to take action to review and resolve each incident. By outsourcing these tasks, you can augment your team and gain the expertise needed to continually tune your SIEM for optimal performance.
Ensuring all devices that connect to your network are patched and meet policy guidelines involves continuous monitoring and action. Alacrinet works with endpoint security solutions like CarbonBlack and CrowdStrike as well as endpoint management solutions like BigFix and SCCM.
The firewall is the frontline of any organization’s network’s defense. Beyond keeping it patched and up to date to stop vulnerabilities as they are identified, Alacrinet’s team of analysts provides reporting and analysis of your network to ensure your organization is informed and in control.
Different projects and compliance regulations require different types of reports. The company understands the intricacies of compliance reporting and has the skills and tools ready to assist the client’s team.
Alacrinet assembles great technology to create and integrate customized solutions. Its Cloud, Analytics, Mobile, Social, and Portal offer key solutions for your IT infrastructure. It is critical for each solution to work together and with the security tools you have invested in. With years of expertise executing the leading solutions, Alacrinet’s team of developers is prepared to meet your most complex challenges.
The Alacrinet team has been delivering advanced solutions and solving complex problems for over 19 years. As the IT industry has expanded, the company has accumulated key skills based on the needs of its customers. With deep skills in security - as well as a proven track record of experience in cloud, analytics, mobile, and social.
It applies that knowledge and expertise to help its clients solve the demanding challenges of their business. The company’s team has deep expertise in areas like development (front end, server-side, and mobile), administration, project management, and UX & UI.
When asked about core values upon which Alacrinet is running its successful operations, Brian replies that “It is conceptually in the name. The root word of the company’s name is “alacrity”. If you look up the definition of alacrity in the dictionary, you will find out it is joyous promptitude and a willingness and eagerness.”
The company has created a team of individuals that have joyous promptitude to achieve a common goal or to eagerly and with promptness satisfy its customers’ needs. “So, that is our first and foremost core value,” he adds.
The next core value in the list - is customer first. The company makes sure that each employee has an eagerness and a
willingness to solve its customers’ problems and to provide great service. And it is a very consultative-model type of company. A lot of its previous and past employees have worked at some of the top consulting companies like Accenture and IBM Global Services.
When asked about how his journey has shaped up in the ITand cybersecurity industry, Brian says, “If you read my LinkedIn, it will tell you all the different hats I wear. I think one of the largest areas of contribution that I have with the company is in the marketing and in the sales.”
Describing his experience over the years, he further says, “I have learned in the 20 years of being an entrepreneur and running a business is you have to have a great product, yes. That’s a given. Once you have a great product and a great offering, you have to be able to communicate it to your target audience and create effective marketing strategies and sales tools. I think I bring great marketing and sales strategies for the company.”
Advanced technologies like artificial intelligence and machine learning are revolutionizing the IT industry’s functions. When asked about how these technologies are being adopted in the cybersecurity industry, Brian said, “AI today is still in the early forms.And the reason I say that is that computing power is not at the point yet where it could do a lot more sophisticated things. But as a discipline and as a sector, what is really interesting is that cybersecurity was one of the first areas that AI could be applied to, and it made a lot of sense.”
He adds, “A lot of these new tools, what I would call secondgen AI on the side of security is just a lot deeper analytics and as computing power gets more robust, you will even be able to potentially remove the security analyst from the equation. Now that is where we are going with this, but we are not there yet - but that’s howAI has contributed to cybersecurity so far.”
Cybersecurity is not just about protecting your company’s digital assets from hackers from common backgrounds. The conflicts between nation-states could also cause the stateowned agency hackers to attack the other nation’s private and public digital resources. Brian calls this an ‘Arms Race’.
We have a whole portfolio of pen tests that we offer to customers based on what type of company they are.
“In cybersecurity, I think that there is going to be a need for more and more solutions; basically solutions built to combat the next vulnerability that is exploited in cyberspace,” Brian notes.
There is going to be the constant need to stay on top of the latest threat landscape and for organizations to purchase and acquire solutions to protect themselves from all the latest threats that are in the marketplace. Otherwise, you leave your organization open to these ransomware attacks and so on and so forth.
“What I see happening is a continued arms race that’s going to go into the future. And I think it is going to propel the marketplace as a whole. For us, as a cybersecurity provider, it is going to be good. For the overall marketplace, it just means that they are going to have to stay focused and vigilant by continuing to stay focused on cybersecurity. I do not think it is going away anytime soon. That is where I see the market heading,” he adds.
Alacrinet’s tremendous success kind of speaks for itself. It is now acquiring record numbers of new customers, new logos every year. Its revenues are also significantly growing every year. It has established a very successful business model for the current marketplace.
When asked for plans for further growth of the company, Brian states that “Our focus now is going to be on growth. We are going to continue to hire more salespeople and try and expand our capability of offering our services and the products and solutions to more customers.”
“Now that we have built a successful model, the next stage of entrepreneurism is, to manage and expand our business. We just need to focus on growth and acquire more customers. New markets are the same markets but, we would like to expand in more geographies. So that is what we are going to be focused on, for 2022 and beyond,” he adds.
The company is also expanding its sales team. It is building out its staff and teams who support its core competencies.
Brian has worked in the industry for 20 plus years. He has developed a wide and deep understanding of the sector, the understanding which can be very useful to entrepreneurs who wish to venture into the cybersecurity field.
As a word of advice to such aspirants, Brian says, “I would suggest you gain some experience in cyber security before you just jump in the market. It is a crowded field, and there are a lot of people that have been doing this for a while. It is going to be a tough fight if you don’t have any background or knowledge in the environment.”
For those with experience, he says, “Trust your gut and build something that creates value in the marketplace, and I think that the marketplace is going to be very responsive if you do so. So, if you are an entrepreneur in cyber security, you should know your market, and you should be trying to bring value using the insights you can bring to it.”
Hthe ability to know things in their surroundings.
umans, since medieval times, have been prone to
The term ‘information’ has been in existence and has proved to be useful throughout human history.
As information has been the key element in the faster development of mankind, the methods and techniques of spreading information have changed from time to time. Along with the introduction of technology, the world has seen an exceptional rise in the process of information. The barrier of delay has been eliminated by the use of modern technology.
The use of technology has been an essential element in the growth of business as well. Companies have been able to easily access the data provided by customers while interacting with businesses through any digital platform like surveys, social media, mobile applications, etc.
The data that such platforms provide, later on, become a vital source to enhance consumer experience and to have the option of choosing the perfect plan accordingly. To efficiently utilize the might of such data marvels, companies use every possible method to secure this data, as leakage of the data would result in endangering the business strategies and burden the company with potential loss.
To avoid losses, companies use several security methods.What kind of methods?
Let us login to explore.
Data is the ultimate source of information in modern times. The amount of data that the consumers provide to the companies is massive. Within this massive amount of data, not every piece of information is required, and some data may be useless to the company. This greater value of data attracts hackers and false technique practitioners.
To avoid hackers to gain all the information of the consumers, the companies are needed to decrease the amount of data that they collect from the consumers through various sources. It also enables them to win the trust of the customers.
The security of data is a crucial task for which the company requires the perfect type of tools. The choice of tools that the company uses defines the level of security of consumer data. Companies must look out for SOC 2 or ISO 27001 in their current tools, if not found, companies should replace them with an alternative that provides them with access to any of these.
Data is one of the most vulnerable assets in the business world. Businesses require a lot of software technologies to eliminate the risk of hackers, breaching into the system and gaining access to all the information. The companies must be active in keeping its software from being updated. The older versions might prove to be hazardous to the data and can provide an entrance to hackers.
The more people are allowed to access the data, the more chances the data to be in the category of vulnerability. To avoid a situation that puts the data in danger, access to the data must be limited to the people that require the information in it. Enabling fewer employees, taccess to consumer data diminishes the chances of data abuse and this also strengthens security.
The process of logging in is always going to be an easy target for hackers to enter into the system. Sometimes, even the most complex passwords lack the potential to secure the data completely. Password management tools can provide great help in enabling the creation and containing composite passwords. These tools encrypt the passwords before the storage, making them unreadable, this eliminates the risk of a hacker gaining access to the passwords even after breaking into the password management tools.
Consumers keep a leap of faith in the companies and share their personal information and data with them. To ensure that the trust remains for a longer time, businesses must keep a transparent relationship with the customers. This gives access to the consumers to be sure of the way their data is used and helps the companies to strengthen their value.
Cyber attacks are often overlooked when considering a disaster management situation. Companies must form strategies to continue the work in flow even in the middle of a flawed situation. This ensures the continuation of everyday tasks without any obstructions.
The advanced security systems would prove to be useless if the awareness among the employees has not been clear. Employees must be trained to avoid sending sensitive information using email, and proper practice of changing passwords must also be taught regularly.
Companies are mostly dependent on the tools that secure the consumer’s data. These tools create a wall that disbars hackers from entering. The effectiveness of these tools must be done by testing them frequently to make the necessary changes if required.
One of the simplest answers to keep the data secured is to follow all the rules and regulations of the regional data protection laws. This easy and healthy practice ensures the data from falling into the wrong hands and boosts the reputation of the company.
Consumers put all their faith when they share their information with the companies. Companies must ensure to keep that faisth unbreakable with the fair uses and practices of the right type of materials. Following fair practices enables the doorway for a company to have the complete trust of the consumers and gain exponential growth.
-Harshal Wahane
founder
Disaster does not knock at the door, it enters directly. One such disaster that has directly entered our lives recently was the COVID-19 pandemic, which has scarred the world adversely. It has affected and shattered every aspect of society in ways that would require a quality amount of time to recover and re-establish roots of routine lifestyle. It has been a nightmare that nobody wants to relive again.
To avoid more nightmares like these, humans have been practicing safety methods that help in creating a healthy environment and lifestyle. The environment of the business sector has also been affected due to the pandemic and has gone through an abundance of changes as all the employees were working online.
Necessary changes were made during the pandemic to be immune to the disease, likewise, esssential changes were made to the cyber security technologies to be immune to a variety of potential cyber-attacks. These changes act like a vaccine to keep the disaster away and system immune.
What are the vaccines for the cyber world?
Let us move forth to gain access.
Cyber-attacks are one of the fastest growing crimes around the globe. Different safety measures are made to avoid such
scenarios. The vaccination which works toward keeping these at bay and the system immune from various external and internal threats is cyber security. To easily sum up, cyber security can be stated as the wall that protects the network, data, information, confidentiality, etc. against invalid access and cyber-attacks.
In the era of cyber security, machine learning has established a vital role and has seen proactive growth. The reason for such immense growth is the simpler and more effective use with the low expense of Machine Learning, in the process of cyber security. ML acquires data from a dataset and develops patterns while manipulating them with algorithms. This enables it to tackle and counter attacks in real-time.
For the best retaliation, Machine learning heavily anticipates knowledgeable data to create beneficial algorithms. The source of the data can be anything, and must reflect all the possible potential scenarios. These scenarios help the cybersecurity systems to recognize the threat pattern, and read the behavior of the cyber criminals. This ensures to avoid similar cyber-attacks in the future.
One of the most omnipresent security threats to the IT sector in today's era is phishing, it continues to make a prey of more victims. Perfectly implemented business email compromise attacks are dominantly used by cybercriminals. Phishing emails and malign URLs have been widespread throughout the web. Moreover, they are now very localized, geo-targeted, and more personalized. These troublesome emails led to the establishment of an investigation report.
The Data Breach Investigations Report of Verizon ran an investigation in 2019 and the report stated that 32% of the data breaches involved phishing activities. Experts estimate it to grow in the upcoming years. The year 2020 also noticed more than 60,000 phishing websites and an average of 1 in every 8 employees became a victim of it.
To avoid these unfortunate circumstances, companies are executing simulators that can identify potential phishing patterns and the agenda of these cyber attackers.
In recent times, many organizations have shifted to the cloud as it provides them with better security. IT professionals see the need for security to be more tightened as most cloud services do not provide authentication, audit logging, and secure encryption.
The lack of these configurations can be beneficial to the cyber attackers in breaching the internal policies that guard all the sensitive information in the database. These needs are slowly being noticed and cloud has been advancing with its security system to defend against cyber criminals. This advancement has been effective in identifying the crime beforehand.
The education sector has seen a massive rise in the form of online studies during the COVID-19 pandemic. This rise has given birth to an understanding of making cybersecurity to be one of the top priorities of the sector. This helps in keeping the student's information confidential and secure. Recently, three private universities were prey to a cyberattack in which all the admission data of students were hacked. This led to the consciousness of providing better security to protect student and staff data along with the research data in the organization.
To eliminate these types of risks, educational organizations are moving forth to new and advanced security procedures that provide better safety of data.
The notorious cyber criminals are growing with the advancement of technology and are a prominent threat to the cyber world and these crimes are rapidly increasing. The requirement of being aware of these threats is a demand that needs to be fulfilled. The Cybercrime Education and cyberattack awareness can lower the risk of getting trapped in disastrous situation for businesses and individuals. This is a collective process to ensure the betterment of society.
-Harshal Wahane
