SC Magazine Excellence Awards 2015
Network Box USA has been named an SC Magazine 2015 Excellence Award Finalist. Our NBRS 5.0 platform is recognized in the Best SME Solution category, which acknowledges companies with superior security products that help customers address the most pressing of cybersecurity threats.
This is, of course, an incredible honor and I’m beyond thrilled as I write this blog post. But, my emotions aren’t what I want to focus on at the moment, instead, I’m shining the spotlight on the relevance and meaning of such a prestigious nomination.
For each category, the SC Magazine panel nominates 5 finalists. We don’t know precisely how many companies were competing in our category but we do have this quote, reported verbatim, as shared with us by a representative of the HayMarket Media Group, “Unfortunately, we do not disclose particular numbers. However, I can say we got a lot of nominations this year and competition was fierce.
It is also worth noting that the finalists in this particular category are decided by an expert panel of judges. These judges are hand-picked by SC Magazine’s editorial team for their breadth of knowledge and experience in the information security industry. Our judges come from all walks of life – from end-user companies to the analyst and consulting communities, to academia. Many are practicing and former chief security officers from the private and public sectors who also may have been honored themselves at SC Awards galas in previous years. Therefore, it is a great accomplishment to be picked as one of the top 5 finalists in this category.”
I believe the above statement leaves little room for discussion. The panel of judges determined that Network Box USA is one of the 5 leading companies in the US market for the value we provide to clients in this category. That alone makes me go weak in the knees!
But there is something else, very important, which does not immediately transpire from the above quote.
Not a single one of the other finalists is actually a managed service provider. Granted, they are all big industry names, well known and, I would add, respected BUT each and every one of them sells a product, a ‘computer’ with dedicated specific software.
Nothing else.
You install it, you are on your own. You need to configure it, update it, monitor it, upgrade it, maintain it, manage it. You need to identify issues, attacks, alerts and so forth. This is a full time job if you want to do it well, and one which requires many dedicated years of experience. Otherwise, you’re like many others I’ve seen – you install it, you forget about it, and a little while later, you start having problems, not realizing that the real issue here is there’s no one maintaining your security!
The fundamental difference between Network Box USA and the other finalists is that we provide a complete managed security service. Please let’s be clear; the market is saturated with companies calling themselves MSSPs, when all they do is manage and change firewall rules. When I say that we’re an MSSP, I mean that we have a Security Response Center, dedicated solely to improving our clients’ security postures, 24/7/365. Our SRC boasts three ISO certifications (27001, 20000 and 9001). This is where our SRC engineers monitor not just our clients’ boxes but also the internet in its entirety. They create protection in the form of signatures (and in many other ways), deploying them in true real time to all the devices protecting our client’s networks. At this very moment, this is happening to the tune of about 300 times per day.
Then we have 16 Security Operations Centers, whereat other engineers keep a tight eye on the actual devices, making sure they’re always up to date, expertly configured, and in perfect order to securely protect our clients’ networks.
With this nomination, the panel of judges recognizes that in 2015, security is no longer a personal affair, something undertaken as a secondary task every now and again. We, a Managed Security Services Provider, are a finalist as Best product for SMEs. What this means is that security in 2015 is executed in a different way; it needs to be done by experts dedicated to security. Small and Medium enterprises typically cannot afford such type of skills; they’re hard to come by and, yes, they’re expensive. And if a company manages to hire one and endures the pain of the costs, it always risks losing that person because such an expert wants to work for a company whose core business is security; where he has a chance to grow and develop a career; where he can learn, play, experiment, and grow technically as well, on a daily basis.
In 2015, Small and Medium enterprises need to recognize that everyone is at risk, that security is a task best left in the hands of experts, and that managed security services are the only true solution to adequately protect a company’s network.
A piece of hardware no longer does it.
MSSP is the way to go; and, I reiterate, Network Box USA is the only MSSP nominated in the category by the SC magazine panel of experts. I could not be happier.