As South African companies increasingly realise the value of outsourced managed security services, Nclose is pleased to announce that it is at the forefront of this wave of interest – meeting and exceeding the growing demand.

Stephen Osler, Director at Nclose, says a thorough understanding of client needs is at the core of its business philosophy. It’s not enough to wield a suite of world-class products if they are being applied inefficiently or in the wrong context.

“Nclose has spent many years cherry-picking highly skilled security engineers and a wide range of network security solutions and technologies – an experience that has equipped us with the insight to carefully select and apply the correct product for each customer’s unique security needs,” he explains.

With an impressive array of favourites that include Tufin, Checkpoint, Websense, Kaspersky and Cyber-Ark, to name a few, Osler adds that the Nclose team is always on the lookout for new and innovative security solutions that will address its customers’ needs.

“We’re more than happy to find a solution that we don’t currently work with – if that is what our client needs.”

Nclose is also able to look beyond the possible limitations of current products – of which cost could be considered to be one. Despite their pressing security needs, clients aren’t always able to shell out on big-ticket items and add-ons.

“One of these needs is often for integrated reporting,” Martin Potgieter, Nclose Director, points out. “Reporting can be just as important as the security solution – if real value is to be extracted. This is why we have spent several months developing a flexible, intuitive reporting dashboard for our customers to apply to their network environments.”

By gathering data from all security applications that are active in a client’s network and displaying it in a useful and easily understood format, it becomes easy to gain an overall view of security status, where problem areas lie, and where increased efficiency can be found with existing products.

Potgieter says Nclose’s reporting dashboard will be available to clients from the second quarter onwards, and that they are likely to realise immediate value from its use.

“With a groundbreaking approach to trend and risk analysis, our consolidated reporting facility is a cost-effective approach that provides a critical at-a-glance understanding of what’s going on in your network environment,” Potgieter notes.

The product of a leading-edge technical team that places significant effort on remaining at the forefront of industry trends and developments, the new reporting facility – combined with Nclose’s hands-on approach to security management – is sure to shift expectations in the marketplace.

“Our track record to date is unblemished, and we’re one of a few companies in our industry to be able to boast that we always exceed the SLA expectations of our clients,” Osler says. “When dealing with network security, you cannot afford to skip a beat, and we have the right combination of products, service and innovation to live up to that standard.”

“When we opened our doors for business in 2007 we couldn’t have known that we were setting sail into the heart of one of the largest ever crashes in economic history,” says Martin Potgieter, director at Nclose. “And even though South Africa remained relatively safe from major financial fallout, many businesses have closed over the last few years, and most have shown a decline in sales and market growth.”

With a single digit figure client base in 2007, Nclose’s year-on-year growth is an eye-opener, given the circumstances. With an agility that results from a dedicated and responsive approach to its clients’ requirements, their current client base is in the late thirties over a four year period, with annual growth increasing by 50-80% year on year. Martin notes that the majority of this growth has been in managed services where Nclose monitors and maintains clients’ networks – ensuring optimal ongoing performance and protection.

The Nclose formula is a simple combination of world-class products and services that are applied and administered by a team with an unshakeable focus on their client’s security needs.

“We’re very proud of the fact that we have yet to lose a client once they have entered into a relationship with Nclose,” says Stephen Osler, who directs Nclose together with Martin. “The unique partnerships that develop with our clients over time are based on trust. They are aware that we have their best interests at heart and this allows us to explore and expand the relationships that we have with them, often leading to better, more tailored solutions being applied.”

The Nclose team often finds itself working alongside IT infrastructure teams from other companies – contrary to the general arrangement where one firm is contracted to provide IT infrastructure as well as security. Stephen says that this is a real sign of the belief that their clients have in the level and integrity of the service that Nclose provides. He goes on to note that this arrangement is also preferable to a single vendor solution as it provides the client with increased transparency with regards to the effectiveness of the IT security solution in place.

With clients ranging from small businesses to large corporates and spanning all major industrial sectors – including financial services and insurance, Nclose continues to set an upward trend that even its larger competitors are unable to match. Nclose’s steady expansion – despite faltering economic conditions – is proof that customers value relationships that offer value, and are willing to maintain these regardless of the challenges that they my face.

Speaking about one of Cape Town’s major financial services giants, Martin Potgieter, Nclose director, explains that DLP is easy to get a grip on, and doesn’t need to be a vague exercise that lacks measurement.
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“Within days of implementing Nclose’s approach to data leakage protection, we had gathered hard evidence of inefficiencies in our client’s environment, and decisive action was taken to close gaps and secure the flows of data inside the company. In the weeks that followed, data security had been increased to levels that were above and beyond best practice in the financial services industry!” says Potgieter.

Data leakage is the new scourge on the corporate IT landscape. Brought to the world’s attention by the high-profile loss of thousands of public records in briefcases, laptops and data disks by the UK government, data leakage’s full effects have only been fully grasped in the last few years.

“As an organisation dealing with client data, your role in securing and managing information responsibly is soon to be defined by the Protection of Personal Information Act,” says Stephen Osler, an Nclose director. “While the Act speaks in broad terms about the repercussions of data leakage and loss, the implications are very specific – and damaging to your brand.”

The traditional approach to DLP is a simple four-step approach applied by most IT security service providers:

1. Locate all data
2. Classify data according to its nature and need for protection
3. Implement DLP policies and governance
4. Maintain approach into the future

Simple as it seems, this approach is costly, time-consuming, and often results in an ongoing spiral of work that never ends. The reason for this is step 2: classification.

Comprehensive classification of data typically takes up to 60% of any DLP implementation, and in most companies, this can result in six months to a year’s worth of work. The problem with comprehensive data classification is that once this mammoth task appears to have been completed, data that was classified early on in the project may have changed in terms of importance or confidentiality status.

The classification task thus often never ends, and you may find that this approach leaves you constantly battling for control of the classification of your data – not to mention the selection of appropriate measures to secure it.

Classification of data vs identification

“Nclose believes whole-heartedly in the importance of data leakage protection, but offers an approach that allows your organisation to achieve the same results as a typical approach – but in less time and with more effect,” Potgieter says.

By adopting an approach that focuses on identification of data instead of classification, Nclose’s DLP offering has successfully handed complete control of data to many of its clients. The basic premise is that not all data is important, and that by identifying and monitoring the flow of data in an organisation – a clearer and more accurate view of data that requires protection is obtained.

The DLP focus then falls on the data types that pose risks, making it easier and less time-consuming to get a tight grip on the management of data in your organisation. The benefits of this approach also show themselves in the bottom line. Lengthy data classification exercises are extremely costly in terms of time and money. Nclose is able to deliver a complete DLP approach – and embed it in an organisation of 1 000 people – in less than six months.

A more efficient approach that delivers savings all round

Not only is Nclose’s approach more effective than traditional DLP systems, the ongoing maintenance is also more cost-effective. In a world where complexity is increasing and the hunt for data by fraudsters is relentless, Nclose offers an elegant solution that leads the way in terms of visible benefit and cost-effectiveness.

The keys to success are short implementation times, and sustainable ongoing maintenance – both hallmarks of Nclose’s DLP solution.

Reserved for its most competent and skilled partners, platinum status is awarded only once an outstanding grasp of Websense’s product range and its applications is shown. Successful implementation and support of the Websense suite of products is also expected of all platinum partners – guaranteeing customers the protection and peace of mind that they demand in today’s fast moving IT environment.

Websense, Inc., is a global leader in unified web, data and email content security solutions, and delivers the best security for modern threats – at the lowest total cost of ownership – to tens of thousands of enterprise, mid-market and small organisations around the world.

Nclose has exceeded Websense’s standards – firmly solidifying its reputation as a premium IT Security solutions provider in South Africa.

For a Websense Data Security datasheet click here, or for a DLP executive overview please click here.

Off-the-shelf network security solutions are sold as plug-and-play silver bullets that seduce clients with the promise of easy installation, effortless application, and trouble-free ongoing maintenance. Automated updates tick countless boxes in network managers’ minds – allowing everyone to enjoy peaceful nights of sleep.

The reality of network security is, without question, very different to this.

It isn’t that evil lurks around every corner – waiting to effortlessly evade the noble efforts of security applications. The reality is one of unrealised potential – incredibly sharp tools blunted by installations that ignore context, and apply broad principles to customised IT environments. Your IT environment.

The need for defensive network measures has progressed to the point where most organisations purchase and apply them begrudgingly. Considered to be obligatory protection without tangible benefits – severely lacking in quantifiable return on investment – they often represent fiscal black holes.
This opinion of network security solutions is completely understandable, but is based on an incomplete grasp of the scope of benefits that a professionally installed and maintained security solution can deliver.

The full potential of off-the-shelf solutions is rarely seen because they are generally applied by teams or individuals who aren’t aware of the extents to which they can be stretched. Eye-watering IT staffing costs often result in these teams being thinly spread across several IT related disciplines – denying security the focus it requires. Network security services are also often avoided because of the incorrect perception that their ongoing costs are difficult to control and even harder to quantify.

The average SAP installation dedicates as much as 30% of the overall cost to services focused on optimising and fine-tuning each installation to the clients’ requirements and environment. The average cost of network security optimisation, in contrast, averages around 10% relative to the security solution’s price tag.

For this significantly smaller percentage, network security services push off-the-shelf solutions way beyond their basic functions. Even minor optimisation can see off-the-shelf solutions turned from simple firewalls into cost monitoring and saving platforms that allow businesses to actively shape the purpose and deployment of their networks.

Security services allow business to swop positions on the backs of their horses; from fateful passengers to goal driven jockeys that are in control, and coax the very best out of their systems. Coupled with the never-ending quest for cost saving, the relentless increase in complexity, and volume, of network threats means that dedicated security services are undoubtedly as important as the solutions themselves.

VeloCITI focuses on mentoring and developing Western Cape based IT companies on the various aspects of running a successful business. As a young company, Nclose entered the programme in 2008 with the primary goal of gaining insight and skills that would position it for the growth it was determined to achieve in the coming years. Unexpectedly, out of the 15 participants in the programme, Nclose won the VeloCITI award – based on business growth and other aspects relating to its business model and approach.

Through the VeloCITI programme, Nclose was mentored by David Murry and Tony Malam from Cape Ventures Partners, who advanced Nclose’s ability to control all aspects of its business. Cape Ventures Partners boasts innovative approaches to finance and business development, the result of many years of experience gained by working alongside successful South African IT companies.

Nclose is grateful for the role that the VeloCITI programme played in achieving the outstanding, and ongoing, successes in the years after winning the reward.