In the wake of numerous high-profile cybersecurity attacks against big business and government entities, AlienVault President and CEO Barmak Meftah told hundreds of CIO and IT leaders at the recent Midsize Enterprise Summit Fall conference that a good security defense also needs a good offense.
While the majority of IT leaders spend most of their security budget and staff attention on prevention measures, the reality is that hackers can usually find a way in if they are persistent.
“You can have the greatest security protection available in the market today, but determined hackers only have to get it right one time to successfully breach what you believe to be top notch security measures,” Meftah said. And the damage that can occur when they do can have extremely harmful and costly business consequences.
“Quite often, security is usually an afterthought because it is not core to what most businesses do,” said Meftah. “Most businesses are so focused on security prevention that they are ill prepared to deal with the consequences of addressing a cybersecurity attack when and if it does occur.”
Founded in 2007, AlienVault believes better threat detection starts with unified security management. According to the company, AlienVault unifies five essential security tools into one integrated solution and combines them with real-time threat intelligence. The Silicon Valley based company serves over 4,000 commercial customers today, ranging from mid-market to large enterprise, including numerous Fortune 500 companies. There is also a large contingent of security providers that are using the AlienVault technology for their white label solution.
Industry research and market data shows that companies are investing more heavily in IT security, but Meftah pointed out that it does not seem to be successful in keeping increasingly sophisticated and highly skilled cybersecurity hackers at bay. Meftah advised the CIO and IT leaders at MES that they must also focus attention and resources on threat detection and being prepared with proper response capabilities in the event their organization is the target of a successful cybersecurity attack.
“We understand that doing so is complicated and it requires funding,” said Meftah. But one only need look at the devastating media headlines and damaging financial and reputational consequences suffered by so many other hacked organizations around the world to see that full spectrum of protection is necessary.
During his address, Meftah noted the shift from point solutions to more integrated solutions and discussed how it is affecting the security industry. More companies today are looking for threat intelligence products that can help them prepare for worst case scenarios.
“Our sensor products sit alongside of IT assets regardless of where they are (for example, AWS, Azure, VMWare) and our product can sit on premises or in the cloud to help keep the IT system alive in the event of an unexpected attack,” he said.
He reviewed a recent case study with Save Mart to illustrate AlienVault’s solution to help this retailer better manage and protect its assets, with 200 stores around the world today.
AlienVault products are updated every 30 minutes with the latest research from AlienVault Labs, which analyze thousands of pieces of data to stay on top of the latest attacks, vulnerabilities and exploits. With up-to-the-minute guidance on emerging threats and context-specific remediation advice, AlienVault helps its customers to effectively accelerate and simplify threat detection and remediation.
Meftah also reviewed their Open Threat Exchange offering, the first and only crowd sourced solution that today has a network of 50,000 subscribers and continues to grow.
Janice Cain, MBA, is an award-winning marketing consultant and PR advisor who has been working extensively in the IT industry for more than 10 years with some of the world’s best known software and hardware companies. Follow her @1010_Marketing
