Data is one of your organisation’s most valuable assets – it’s essential that you employ the most advanced security tools to protect it.
Let’s start with a question: How long on average do you think it takes companies to detect that their systems have been breached? 48 hours? One week?
No. According to recent research, hackers can remain undetected for an average of 200 days before companies realise that they are at risk. That provides them with a whole lot of time to figure out exactly where your most sensitive information is located, and plan a strategy to steal it from you.
Here’s another one for you: What do you think the estimated total global cost of cyber-crime is on an annual basis? $200 million? $500 million? $1 billion?
Not even close. Cyber-crime is now estimated to be costing the world’s economy $100 billion PER YEAR. And the numbers are constantly rising.
THE most sophisticated security analytics platform
It’s clear then, that the threat landscape is developing, and companies need to employ more advanced tools and techniques than ever before to effectively tackle cyber-crime. That’s where IBM’s QRadar security intelligence platform comes in.
QRadar is a state-of-the-art solution that integrates security information and event management (SIEM), log management, anomaly detection, incident forensics, incident response, and configuration and vulnerability management.
It provides businesses with an all-in-one platform for monitoring their risk profile, and tackling the increasingly sophisticated security threats that they are facing on a daily basis.
Experience QRadar for yourself
Sign up to our newsletter and we’ll send you emails giving you a crash course in how QRadar can help your business. We’ll explain how the QRadar SIEM collects security data, and provide some lessons on how to use the QRadar SIEM dashboard.
What’s more, you could win free security services worth €3,000 which will highlight the business advantages that QRadar can offer.
To learn more visit our QRadar landing page or call +353 1 6420100, and keep an eye out for our next email!
When Microsoft introduced Azure Active Directory Connect in 2015 we knew that it was the beginning of the end for the company’s older identity synchronisation tools. And now that day has come; Microsoft has announced that the still popular Azure Active Directory Sync (DirSync) and Azure AD Sync are now deprecated and will reach end of support on April 13th 2017. Azure AD Connect is now Microsoft’s only solution to connect your on-premises directory with Azure AD and Office 365. What purpose do these tools serve?
DirSync and Azure AD Sync provided the capability to synchronise identity data from organisations on premise directory services to Azure Active Directory, supporting identity management processes for their Office365 and/or Azure services. DirSync supported the synchronisation of objects from a single forest only, whilst Azure AD Sync was aimed at organisations with multiple Active Directory forests.
Azure AD Connect, Microsoft’s replacement for the capabilities of these tools, provides a much richer feature set, which includes:
Password write back – the facility to synchronise password changes from Azure/O365 down to the on-premises domain, allowing users to change or reset their passwords within Office365 and mirroring those changes on your On Premise AD.
Device write back – allowing devices registered in the cloud to be written into AD for conditional access.
Accidental delete prevention – a function which limits the number of accounts that can be deleted at a time.
These functions, and many more besides, make Azure AD Connect a much more user friendly and powerful tool than its predecessors. What does end of life mean?
‘End-of-life’ for these Microsoft tools is the point where Microsoft will no longer support them. From that point onwards, Microsoft will no longer be releasing patches, bug-fixes or new releases of DirSync. Microsoft’s commitment to support bugs, issues or security flaws that arise from that point on will cease.
While the tools will continue to function after April 13th 2017, customers will be unable to open a support case for DirSync or Azure AD Sync with Microsoft. Businesses that continue to utilise these unsupported tools after that date risk leaving themselves open to potential defects that could compromise their environment and services. As well as this, identified security vulnerabilities that aren’t being addressed by patches could put data security at risk, or even serve as a route for cybercriminals to access other systems on the network.
Businesses that update sooner rather than later will enjoy the full benefits offered by Microsoft’s continued support, including the provision of patches and bug-fixes, which will significantly reduce the likelihood of data breach or loss. Ward Solutions recommends that our clients who are currently using DirSync or Azure AD Sync start planning their upgrade to Microsoft’s replacement solution, Azure AD Connect, before 13th April 2017 and avoid the many problems and risks that are associated with using out-of-support software. What’s involved in upgrading?
Now for the good news: The upgrade to the Azure AD Connect tool is not a costly or time consuming undertaking and can be performed with minimal downtime of your synchronisation processes. Phew!
For smaller environments, where Active Directory is currently managing fewer than 50,000 objects, an in-place upgrade can be performed on the existing environment running your DirSync / Azure AD Sync service.
For larger environments with more than 50,000 objects, a parallel deployment is needed, which does require a server separate to the existing DirSync / Azure AD Sync instance. However, this can present a great opportunity to refresh the server hardware and / or operating system if needed.
To find out more about what’s involved or to get assistance with your upgrade, speak to one of Ward’s experienced team – visit https://www.ward.ie/about-us/contact-us/ or call +353 1 6420100.
The simple answer is no – IAM must be considered with the mindset of continuous improvement (unlike our golf swings which are just perfect now… right?) Over the course of our last two blogs we’ve looked at the necessary steps that your organisation needs to take to plan and implement a successful Identity and Access Management programme. In the final blog in the series we’ll give you some guidance to help your IAM strategy to stand the test of time.
To help your business sustain the benefits of your existing efforts in your Identity and Access Management projects IAM needs to remain on your IT Governance and Strategy agenda. As well as this, remaining focused on your IAM programme can ensure awareness of new requirements or challenges that are being posed.
One way to ensure that IAM doesn’t fall off the radar once you have completed your initial priority projects is to identify useful KPIs and regularly report on them. This can make it easier to monitor and identify areas of improvement and more importantly, areas that are underperforming.
When generating your reports some important areas and topics to focus on are:
The volume of user related support tickets, such as password resets or access requests
The average time it takes to provision or de-provision a user
The average time it takes to authorise a request
The number of reconciliation exceptions (orphaned accounts, accounts with elevated permissions)
Quarterly User Access Management audits for attestation
The threat of Shadow IT
When it comes to sustaining your IAM policies it’s important to ask yourself if you know what solutions and services, either internal or cloud-based, staff are using.
Ward’s team frequently works with businesses that have introduced their IAM programmes and insist that cloud services are not part of their strategy and not used in their organisation. However, it’s often the case that on closer inspection individual departments are found to have on boarded cloud solutions into their team, or are frequently utilising cloud applications to facilitate requirements that the business is not meeting.
A common example of this is the use of Dropbox to share information with external vendors or customers. If this goes unnoticed this sort of shadow IT can severely hamper the effectiveness of your organisation’s meticulously planned IAM strategy, and increase the likelihood of data breach or loss.
Having implemented your policies and procedures, it’s critical that you sustain the appropriate governance, to continually reaffirm and attest your compliance.
As your business, your industry and the way you work continue to evolve, so will your IAM challenges.
Organisations whose IAM challenges were previously limited to their wholly on premise landscape now need to consider how to address new challenges as they look to utilise cloud services. What’s more, growing organisations which traditionally had onsite workforces, now need to manage the concerns over a mobile workforce that needs to work from anywhere, anytime. Finally, continued changes in compliance and regulatory obligations introduce new requirements for businesses, for applying proper security controls, governance and attestation.
IAM oversight is essential
As we discussed in our previous blog on implementing your IAM program, the need for an IAM Steering Committee responsible for IAM oversight within your business is essential. This group needs to promote awareness of your IAM best practice approaches, processes and polices throughout your organisation, and ensure that IAM compatibility is on the agenda for all new ICT Projects, to sustain the efforts and improvements. According to Gartner, by 2018 50% of IAM programs will be responsible for both enterprise and consumer facing IAM infrastructure, up from 20% today.
We understand that businesses can find that they do not have the capacity or capability to fulfill these roles and responsibilities, including understanding of the evolving IAM landscape and what it means to their own business, management and support of IAM operations and monitoring and governance of their processes and standards. Ward Solutions – an established IAM Partner
This is the value that an IAM Partner can bring to your business. In our capacity as an IAM Managed Service Provider Ward Solutions is focused on staying updated on best practices, industry trends and emerging tools and solutions, and can bring this expertise to your business in a guidance and advisory capacity. In addition to these services, Ward can take responsibility for the day to day support and maintenance of your IAM related environment and services. To speak with the Ward team about managing your IAM services and challenges, visit https://www.ward.ie/about-us/contact-us/ or call +353 1 6420100.
Cloud technology. Data storage. Networking and internet service concept.
Don’t set yourself up for failure from the start – make sure your business has the right roadmap, architecture and platform for successful IAM programme implementation.
In our last blog we outlined how the changing nature of work and policies such as Cloud adoption, BYOD, the newer risk and compliance landscape and the need for real business agility have led to Identity and Access Management becoming a key requirement for many organisations looking to increase control over the number and nature of users and devices accessing their services. We also looked at planning an IAM strategy right for your organisation’s specific needs. In this blog, the second in our three part series on IAM, we explore how best to implement an IAM programme in order to maximise success while minimising disruption.
By starting on the right foot and viewing IAM as a longer term program of work for continuous improvement, and understanding its relevance to business, security, operational and strategic requirements (identity lifecycle management, access management, information protection, mobile device management, governance & compliance obligations), businesses increase the likelihood of successfully achieving their IAM goals.
Appointing an established IAM Steering Committee that is responsible for awareness, governance and reporting of your businesses IAM requirements and priorities can be a very helpful way of ensuring a successful IAM programme. This group should ensure that IAM and ongoing projects remain on the radar of the Management, Operations and Strategic groups, to ensure the work being done within IAM is being taken into consideration throughout the business.
Some of the typical failures in implementing IAM projects which we see in business are stem from a lack of clear objectives and vision due to a failure to appreciate the breadth of the challenge. Successful IAM implementation requires a significant amount of planning and foresight. For more information on effectively planning an IAM implementation be sure to read the previous instalment in this blog series.
Other factors that can hamper successful IAM implementation are incomplete understanding of the business’s current IAM maturity level and a lack of consideration of where IAM fits within the overall IT strategy. Ideally, your IAM programme should fit seamlessly with your organisation’s IT strategy, augmenting your ability to defend against cyber-threats.
Finally, another thing that can lead to failure is the all-at-once approach, i.e. trying to resolve all goals in a single project. Successful IAM implementation is a process that takes a significant amount of time, and accepting this will ensure that you give each step the due consideration it deserves, ultimately leading to a more cohesive IAM programme.
To implement a successful IAM programme you need to have awareness of your current IAM landscape and capabilities. You also need to have identified the issues, challenges and requirements specific to your business. Following this it’s important to have developed a roadmap that aligns with your IT Strategy. Finally, it’s essential to identify and decide on the right architecture and platform that will help you deliver your roadmap.
All too often, businesses implementing IAM projects focus on individual concerns and requirements in a piece meal approach, tackling them one at a time in a tunnel vision mindset.
The downfall of this approach is the risk of ending up with an array of independent solutions, each focused on one specific concern, resulting in higher implementation costs to the business and requiring more effort for operations to manage and maintain. This piecemeal approach can potentially lead to a collection of point solutions that may fail to properly integrate and deliver a seamless service or over-arching business objectives.
Implementing your roadmap one step at a time is the right approach, but it needs to be done with an awareness of the larger, interconnected picture of the areas that Identity and Access Management now relates to, and the platforms and solutions within the market that can enable you to achieve your business goals. Your IAM strategy and architecture must be grounded in your short and medium term business objectives and needs to support your current ICT strategy. However, it’s also essential that it pays heed to the pace of change in ICT generally, evolving solution and service delivery models, and the rapidly changing risk and compliance landscape.
Your research should consider good industry sources such as Gartner Magic Quadrant, Forrester reports etc., looking for providers and solutions that feature strongly in multiple facets, such as Access Management, Enterprise Mobility, and Governance.
What we see is providers such as Microsoft, OKTA, IBM repeatedly scoring highly across these IAM related Magic Quadrant reports, because they continue to invest in providing solutions and services that are inter-related across the array of IAM concerns. IAM is a medium to long term play so it’s important that your selected solution providers also have an equivalent long term vision, roadmap and viability.
When Ward’s IAM team engage with customers in their IAM implementations, we take these considerations into account, so that we can be sure to utilise the right platform that supports the delivery of as many of the businesses IAM requirements as possible. This is also the most cost-effective method of IAM implementation as it doesn’t introduce a myriad of infrastructure or applications into the environment which the business needs to maintain. To speak with the Ward team about developing or implementing an IAM strategy visit https://www.ward.ie/about-us/contact-us/ or call +353 1 6420100.
Planning the right IAM strategy for your organisation can lead to a range of business benefits.
Understanding your current Identity and Access Management (IAM) capabilities and how IAM impacts your business is key to ensuring that you have a strategy that is appropriate for your organisation and one that works. IAM should not be considered a once-off project, but rather as a program of work which delivers according to the specific requirements of your business.
The current proliferation of mobile devices in the workplace means that increasing numbers of organisations are implementing bring your own device (BYOD) guidelines in order to facilitate mobile and remote working. However, ever-increasing numbers of devices logging on to your network can mask a very real security threat: the threat of unauthorised devices gaining access to potentially sensitive business information.
A recent survey of 176 information security professionals carried out by the Cloud Security Alliance and Bitglass found that 57% of those surveyed have reported security incidents related to unwanted external sharing. As well as this, 47% had reported incidents involving access from unauthorised devices.
These statistics highlight the need for businesses to take control of who can access data belonging to the organisation.
Identity and Access Management (IAM) has become a key concept which sits at the heart of IT, providing control over the identities within your organisation, what they have access to and when. As the business landscape continues to change, the scope of Identity and Access Management is evolving to incorporate areas such as Mobile Device Management, Rights Management and MultiFactor Authentication (MFA).
Figure 1: Scope of Identity and Access Management
A well planned IAM strategy solves a number of significant business challenges and delivers tangible benefits to the business:
Reduces significantly the costs of the identity lifecycle – provisioning, change and leaving –automation of these events to an agreed policy can dramatically reduce the number of IT administrators and support operators needed to deliver the lifecycle services.
Significantly improves Identity quality in an organisation by timely and automated enforcement of identity and information security policy thus ensuring a more accurate, holistic and complete view of users and their profile across numerous directories and user repositories.
Leads to a reduction in licencing costs – ensuring that the right users have access to the right systems at the right time means that organisations should only pay vendors and service providers for the services and applications they are actually using, thus solving the age old problem of over provisioning leading to over licencing.
Increases organisation productivity by providing on time access to all required systems to end users thus reducing expensive personnel downtime throughout the identity lifecycle.
Improves the user experience – a well-defined and executed IAM strategy means that users have appropriate levels of access to all the systems they need, when they need it. Through self-service capabilities they can fix their own problems directly with service owners – e.g. request new access, reset passwords etc., taking IT administrators and the helpdesk (with associated delays, errors and costs) out of the loop – thus resulting in users being happier with the service.
Improves agility – a well-defined and executed IAM strategy means that introduction of new services or applications or migration of existing services should be much quicker, easier and less costly to execute. These new services typically need to be plugged into “identity connectors” with simple policy configuration needed on your IAM service to define who needs access to the new service, how they are given it, when, how they change access and when they lose access.
Reduces the costs and burden of governance and compliance – using IAM tools to define, execute, capture and measure Information security policy activity means that audits and compliance reporting should be a one click activity from IAM reporting toolsets.
Improves organisation security – automated systemic execution of Information Security and IAM policy significantly improves the operation of key risk management controls. It also reduces the likelihood of poor IAM practices emerging due to solving of traditional problems identified above such as shadow IT, over-provisioning, poor credentials management, non-existent or periodic de-provisioning, lack of identity or policy transparency etc.
All of these types of issues and requirements fall within the realm of Identity and Access Management, and as businesses move away from pure on premise infrastructure and adopt the promise of cloud services, IAM will become an even more critical security control to have in place. The right IAM strategy will ensure you are not sacrificing control and putting identities, data and services at risk, in return for improved end user functionality and reduced costs.
Figure 2: Identity and Access Management Roadmap
Critcal success factors for formulating the business case for an IAM strategy or project include:
Identification in order of priority the objectives for IAM in your business.
Gaining consensus and buy-in from key business stakeholders – It is important to realise that execution of an IAM strategy is a significant undertaking involving delegation of responsibility and input on policy formulation from multiple business functions
Establishing your IAM strategy as a key component of your overall Enterprise Architecture and your Information Security Architecture – As such it needs to be planned, designed executed and governed in the same way that you manage your overall Information Systems strategy and architecture.
Prioritised and phased implementation – eat this elephant in pieces. IAM is a complex and sophisticated project and ongoing service. Over ambition or over complexity in any phase is likely to lead to failure of that phase.
Ensuring that you take on IAM skills early. It is important that key IAM skills are acquired by appropriate people within the organisation early and ongoing – even if you outsource some or all elements of strategy, design or execution. That way they can lead, contribute and validate key elements of the IAM strategy, design or execution throughout the journey.
Ensuring that IAM strategy and Architecture is part of your ongoing ICT/ISM planning. Phased implementation means that elements of the roadmap need to be designed or executed on an ongoing basis to ensure appropriate levels of penetration in the business. Change means that new services are taken on or old services are retired which means that IAM needs to adjust to the ongoing business needs. Information security threats evolve as do IAM technologies and offerings so ensuring that you have the right tools and application of these tools will ensure that your IAM service continues to deliver the appropriate security and risk mitigation controls to the business whilst enabling the business from an access and agility perspective.
It’s essential for businesses to realise the role IAM plays within their organisation and how IAM issues and requirements relate to their IT Strategy and goals to ensure they are aligned. So before launching into implementation of IAM solutions, we recommend you:
Determine your current IAM maturity level
Identify your specific IAM challenges and goals
Identify your gaps and key priorities
Plan the right roadmap for your business
Identify the right tools and platform that will support your IAM plans
With the knowledge and understanding of your current capabilities and a vision of where your business should be, you can launch a successful IAM program, with some quick wins to realise immediate value, and provide the foundation for planning your IAM Architecture and Designs.
If you’re interested in learning more about our IAM Assessment service speak to one of our team – visit https://www.ward.ie/about-us/contact-us/ or call +353 1 6420100.
As well as this, over a quarter (26.3%) of respondents admitted that their company has not planned for potential data compromises. An additional 12% are unaware of whether or not their company has a crisis management plan.
The rise in incidents of cybercrime over the past number of years has necessitated forward planning to deal with potential data breaches. Almost half of those surveyed confirmed that they had noticed an increase in the number of security incidents in their organisation over the course of the past 12 months. What’s more, 63.2% said that they expected to spend more on cybersecurity in the next year as a result. In order for businesses to survive and thrive they must accept the gravity of the cybersecurity threat and adapt their business strategies to tackle it head on.
On a positive note, it seems that the majority of organisations are aware of this necessity, with 61.7% of respondents stating that their organisation does have a crisis management plan in place, and are prepared for the consequences of a potential data breach.
However, over a quarter of organisations are leaving themselves extremely vulnerable to significant financial and reputational damage in the wake of a data breach. Analysis of security incidents, both nationally and internationally, points to significant brand damage and significant further loss to organisations through mishandling of a security incident in the time after the event.
Data compromises require a technical, information security and whole business response. This is very difficult to achieve effectively in the absence of a prepared plan that has been developed, communicated and tested in the context of a specific business. Implementation of a well-communicated, well-understood, and well-rehearsed crisis management plan is one way to stem further losses and damage once an incident occurs.
Many businesses believe that they have no need of a crisis management plan as they are unlikely to ever experience a security incident. However, it is important to remember that a security incident doesn’t necessarily have to be a hack or a data breach, it could also be as simple as a sustained high-profile, high-impact outage. This is something that could happen to any organisation at any moment.
Businesses who accept these new realities and plan with them in mind will continue to be successful. Those that do not put themselves at risk. Ward Solutions can work closely with organisations on the development of crisis management plans, tailored to their specific business needs. Organisations that opt to implement such a plan will dramatically reduce the threat level that they face from malicious hackers.
To find out more about how Ward Solutions can help your organisation to develop a crisis management plan, and about our range of information security offerings, contact us today. Visit our website or call +353 1 6420100.
Ward Solutions’ recent Information Security Survey found that cybercriminals have come up with new tactics to extort money from organisations through ransomware attacks.
66% of survey respondents who were hacked over the past 12 months state that they have been held to ransom for less than €1,000
Ward Solutions’ recent IT Security survey, conducted in association with TechPro magazine, revealed that cybercriminals have come up with new tactics to extort money from organisations through ransomware attacks.
The survey, an in-depth analysis of cybercrime and data storage trends in Ireland, presented some startling findings around data breaches and ransom demands. The responses revealed that two-thirds of those surveyed who had their data encrypted received a ransom demand for a fee of less than €1,000 during the past 12 months.
This new trend of demanding smaller fees is an interesting tactic being employed by cybercriminals. Companies are more likely to pay a small fee in order to avoid reputational damage amongst the public or other affected 3rd parties such as suppliers. This is supported by the survey finding that 46% of Irish companies would not report an incident of a data hack to impacted 3rd parties and almost 30% would not report the incident to the authorities.
A smaller fee means that a whole new target comes to the fore for cybercriminals and their ransomware attacks as more SMEs find themselves victims of cybercrime. While larger fees are cost prohibitive for SMEs, smaller fees of sub €1,000 are easier for them to contemplate paying to save their reputation. SMEs have smaller resources than larger enterprises but may still be hosting information that can be ripe for ransomware encryption in a location that is more vulnerable to attack.
The findings in the survey demonstrated that ransomware is a real and evident threat, and more importantly, that a significant number of Irish organisations have been targeted. This is in keeping with Ward Solutions’ experience in the marketplace in recent years, having witnessed a multitude of targeted approaches by attackers who seemingly know or infer the value of the data that they have encrypted to individual organisations.
What’s more, it appears that a significant percentage of companies are unprepared for a ransomware attack, with over a quarter of respondents stating that their company does not have a crisis management plan in place to deal with potential data compromises. A further 12% did not know if there was a plan in place. It is imperative to have a well communicated, well understood and well-rehearsed incident management response in place to minimise further loss. A data compromise requires a technical, information security and whole business response – something very difficult to achieve without a pre-prepared plan to battle cybercrime.
Ward’s view is that organisations both large and small need to develop deterrents to fend off cybercriminals and ransomware attacks by taking a holistic approach to their security requirements. This is based on the lifecycle of: Identify, Protect, Detect, Respond, Recover. This can be integrated in an overall information security experience which can serve to keep data safe and reputations intact.
For best practice advice on combating cybercrime and ransomware threats, contact Ward Solutions today.
The results of Ward Solutions’ 2016 Information Security Survey are compiled in the ‘Mapping the Cybersecurity Landscape’ whitepaper, which is available for download here.
Ward Solutions’ survey finds that organisations consider cloud storage to be the safest way to store data, yet nearly a fifth admit to not knowing where their data is.
Earlier this month, Ward Solutions revealed the results of its 2016 Data Protection and Compliance survey, which was conducted in association with TechPro magazine. The results were eye-opening, revealing that almost half of Irish businesses would not disclose an incident of data breach to impacted third parties such as customers and suppliers. What’s more, 33% stated that they had suffered a data breach in the past 12 months, a statistic which suggests that almost half of businesses have failed to notify affected third parties of incidents of cybercrime.
As well as looking at cybercrime, the survey also investigated trends in data storage, asking IT professionals whether they were more or less concerned about data that was being stored in-cloud or in third party premises, or that held on their own premises. More than 60% of respondents stated that they believed cloud storage to be equally safe or safer than on premise storage. This response reflects Ward Solutions’ experience increasing acceptance and adoption of cloud storage among customers as a viable alternative to on premise storage. Due to the increasingly systemic approach to risk assessment and increased due diligence of many organisations when it comes to cloud solutions, cloud services can be at least as secure as on premise, if not more so.
More than 60% of respondents said that they consider cloud storage to be as safe or safer than on-premise storage, but nearly a fifth don’t know where their data is located.
Despite this, many organisations admit to being unaware of where their data is located, with nearly a fifth (18.8%) stating that they were not at all confident or that they did not know where their data was. Ward’s due diligence investigations of data processing supply chains reflect this lack of awareness. Despite assurances regarding data location and handling from organisations at the higher levels in the supply chain, weak application of processes and controls or lack of visibility and understanding of data processing and handling by sub suppliers can lead to data being left vulnerable to attack or theft.
In order to maintain the security of data in the supply chain it is important to conduct security compliance audits on an ongoing basis. Since third party access to data typically presents a higher risk than own staff access, the verification of the application of processes and controls is important to manage this risk. What’s more, Ward has noted the emergence, particularly in the last 12 months, at enterprise B2B level, of onerous supply chain due diligence and contracting. This suggests that organisations that currently don’t conduct audits of third party access to data will need to change rapidly if they plan on continuing to do business with these enterprise customers.
Ward’s view is that, in the next 24 months, most organisations planning on doing business at enterprise B2B level will need to display ISO 27001 certification in order to be selected or re-validated as a supplier. As well as this, the recent appointments at GCIO level mean that similar procedures may be implemented at public sector and government level in the not-so-distant future.
To find out more about Ward Solutions’ 2016 Information Security Survey read our blog on the results. To learn more about Ward Solutions’ ISO 27001 accreditation consultancy offerings visit https://www.ward.ie/ or call +353 1 6420100.
(L-R) Niall Dunne, country manager Ireland, Polycom presents Pat Larkin, CEO, Ward Solutions, and a number of the Ward Solutions team with the Managed Service Company of the Year award at the 2016 Tech Excellence Awards.
Ward Solutions is delighted to announce that it won the 2016 Managed Service Company of the Year award at the Irish Tech Excellence Awards at the Ballsbridge Hotel, Dublin last Thursday (May 12th).
Now in its 16th year, the Tech Excellence Awards recognises excellence in the design, implementation and support of technology solutions and services.
Ward fought off strong competition in its nominated category to secure the award which reflected a number of significant accomplishments the company achieved during the past year.
An expert panel of judges recognised Ward Solutions’ employee and revenue growth, launching of innovative new managed services and significant investments including €1.2 million in its new Security Operations Centre.
The Security Operations Centre is a world-class facility which has enabled an expansion to Ward Solutions’ range of managed services, including its new managed security information and event management (SIEM) service.
Ward also secured a number of new and improved accreditations over the past year as well as maintaining an impressive customer retention rate of 98% which helped to convince the judges panel that it was worthy of the managed service company of the year award.
Speaking at the event, Pat Larkin, CEO, Ward Solutions expressed his delight at winning the award:
“The Tech Excellence Awards is a highly prestigious and competitive programme which honours leaders in the Irish technology sector. To receive the Managed Service Company of the Year award is a fantastic achievement after a very successful year for Ward Solutions. “This award is great recognition of our managed service capabilities and the in-depth knowledge and expertise of our entire team at Ward. We will continue to drive our service offerings and expand into new areas with continued investment in R&D and new solutions to further enhance our customers’ security and protection.”
Ward Solutions has been shortlisted for Company of the Year and Managed Company of the Year at the 2016 Tech Excellence Awards.
Ward Solutions is delighted to announce that it has been shortlisted for two of the top awards at the prestigious and hotly contested Irish Tech Excellence Awards 2016. Ward was shortlisted for Company of the Year and Managed Service Company of the Year, based on a number of milestones in 2015.
When it came to shortlisting applicants, an expert panel of judges looked at various factors, including revenue and employee growth, the launch of new services, and significant investments. Ward’s investment of €1.2M in its new Security Operations Centre (SOC), continued revenue and employee growth, as well as other initiatives, such as the provider’s focus on employee training, impressed the judges and ultimately led to the company being shortlisted for Company of the Year.
The new SOC facilitated significant expansion to Ward Solutions’ range of managed services, including the launch of the company’s new managed security information and event management (SIEM) service. Ward’s efficiency and dedicated provision of information security services has continued to attract new customers, and has also enabled the company to maintain a customer retention rate of over 98%.
This expansion of service offerings, coupled with Ward’s array of accreditations, such as ISO 27001 certification, impressed judges enough to convince them to also shortlist Ward for Managed Service Company of the Year.
Now in their 16th year, the Tech Excellence Awards celebrate the very best in the industry of information technology, acknowledging excellence in implementing tech solutions, the business of marketing and implementing technology for business. The Awards Presentation Night is a black-tie event, which will take place on 12th May in the glamourous surrounds of the Ballsbridge Hotel, Dublin 4.
For more information on Ward’s latest service offerings visit https://www.ward.ie/ or call +353 1 6420100.
