Your Organisation's IT Expeditionary Force

Brave New World
“The Threat Landscape has changed radically in the last couple of years. Rarely do threats start with a couple of anti-globalism dorm boys, now threats begin with professional, international organised crime syndicates,” warns Symantec Hosted Service’s VP for Apac & Japan, Bjorn Engelhardt. FBI partners close to Engelhardt have described the value of cybercrime to equate to the value of the drug trade in the US. “These groups are highly professional, they are after any information that they can on-sell, it may be information on product and trade secrets or it may be customer databases. It is serious business - the cyber criminals’ objectives are to target IT systems, lie low and remain there undetected for as long as they can, skimming valuable and privileged information.”

This scenario of international subterfuge sounds like the plot for a great New World Order thriller, but the fact is it is reality, and to battle this reality, and protect bottom lines, companies must up the fight in terms of protecting their IT systems.

The “Cloud” - exporting your risk of attack offsite
“Hosted services” is a relatively simple idea. Customer safety and protection is found in the fact that incoming information platforms, such as Web access and email, are hosted offsite. This means that incoming threats are handled by the experts and never even reach the customer. “We are doing our job,” says Engelhardt, “when a customer doesn’t even know a threat has been detected, analysed and eliminated.” A simple idea indeed, build a protective security cordon around an organisation in much the same way as the physical protection of world leader, but what makes Symantec Hosted Services different is the organisation’s knowledge combat threats efficiently and expediently. It is SHS’s excellent detective work and global intelligence network that sets it apart.

Email and Web security are changing by the day and business leaders are looking to do more with less. Such decision-makers need to work with partners that offer scale in infrastructure and intelligence, and SHS offers both of these through “Cloud”, an enigmatic and somewhat romantic concept that describes user access and user-friendly outsourcing.

“Everyone has antivirus and endpoint protection on their PCs but as vendors we added more to just virus protection,” says Engelhardt. “Full protection is cumbersome for smaller organisations and we provide an easier way, through a hybrid cloud model – the customer manages its endpoint security through a Web-based browser, delivering safety and simplicity for customers to manage and analyse their own security.”

The launch of Symantec Hosted Endpoint Protection (SHEP)
“Simplicity and safety” describes SHEP perfectly. Every user is protected, the sourcing cost and buying model is basic (customers simply add licences) customers’ IT teams can log in and check out threats and how these are being eliminated, offsite of course. Much like Wellington watching Waterloo unfold from the relative safety of Lion’s Mound, users can watch the War on Cyber-Threats being fought and won from their desktops without such threats ever troubling them. Plus internal IT experts can see which employees are (usually) unwittingly exposing the organisation to threats through irresponsible browsing behaviour.

“Cloud is a sourcing option that is fundamental to SHEP,” explains Engelhardt, “What we offer is security and management services through Cloud. ‘Software-As-A-Service, Infrastructure-As-A-Service, et cetera is all within Cloud. Our customers are buying an ongoing service platform and thus they maintain a daily relationship with us. We have to be relevant to our customers every second because Web service, email and end-point security is being handled our servers, so it is true partnership.”

Tremendous growth spurred by a natural marriage
“Using ISPs to spread our technology is the natural synergy for us to deliver services. We have to run through a broadband connection and every business has one, so an ISP or a telco provides such a service and we use that same connection for our services,” explains Engelhardt. In Singapore, SHS is working directly with StarHub and PacNet, these are new deals and deals which are the fuel to tremendous growth for the security organisation. “ISPs are increasingly realising that security is not just about infrastructure - you need the intelligence as well.”

Growth is very strong in APAC, says Engelhardt. Australia is the largest market, perhaps because it is the most mature and developed, whereas Singapore assumes its common place as the fastest growth market.

“In Singapore, we may be faced with a new and small base but we are proud to say that we are close to doubling customer base since last year.” Strong growth is also observed in Emerging Markets. SHS is expanding into India looking to tap into that nation’s amazing local talent. “In the same way as an emerging nation is developing so are the organised cybercrime syndicates therein,” adds Engelhardt. In terms of market-level, SHS sees the SMB stratum as possessing the most potential, with the real value for SHS in the 1000 employee range, “especially in Singapore which doesn’t yet have the volume of huge multinationals of the US or Europe. For SMBs the attraction of our services is simple to see: you’re buying a guaranteed outcome, it is a flat fee per user per month. These factors appeal to SMBs because they can focus on their core businesses.and we can do what we do well for our customers: worry-free security.