Carving a path!

Operating successfully for 5 and a half years, Securit Consulting has just hit its 100th completed contract! Am I finally qualified to hang with the console cowboys in cyberspace?

I’d like to firstly thank all 26 of my clients, old and new, for their continued trust and support as my growth and progress would not have been possible without you. I would especially like to thank the 3 boutique security companies I’ve subcontracted with and for the work they’ve thrown my way over the years. I’m also incredibly grateful to the clients who have referred me to new customers. I look forward to a continued working partnership with you all and the many challenges we may face together in future. I feel this is a good milestone to share some general comments on the work already done and where I am.

My clients range from well-known industry giants to startups and SMEs. They also operate in a large variety of different industries broadly categorized into the following areas:

This has exposed me to a wide variety of different security goals and priorities, varying from organizations focusing on the protection of research and intellectual property to a heavier focus on protecting customer PII and health data. Good business security practices are applicable across the board and can protect any organization working towards their unique objectives. A major focus for me is helping to get the basic practices and principles right first and foremost, before worrying about the more complex solutions available. When defences are best layered, you need solid foundations before you can build more extravagant structures on top.

Visibility

To me, this is the most critical component of any defence strategy. Visibility of your risks, visibility of your assets and visibility of the threats. Without it you will always be blindsided by the coming attack. The penalty for ignoring security can directly impact your revenue streams, with threats of large fines, ransomware and a loss of business through reputation damage or non-compliance. You can’t threat model and develop response strategies for the things you are not aware exist.

Security ignorance can impede your reaction time when responding to an active threat while also increase the time before you even realise you’ve been attacked, increasing the impact of an otherwise preventable situation. Having specialist security expertise and having seen a large variety of real attacks, hopefully puts me in a good position to help raise this critical awareness and improve your security visibility. All of your concerns can be combatted through good business practices, awareness, the remediation of known issues and the continuous validation of your security controls.

Types of contract

As far as the contracts go and in tackling ever changing businesss security concerns, I provide repeatable services using battle tested methodologies. I’ve broadly categorized these services and the work done into the following categories:

The product of these security deliverables is usually a report that contains technical remediation advice, a view of your assets through a clear security-focused lens, business strategy regarding how to focus or prioritise your efforts and guidance towards the business practices that can help add layers of protection to your defense.

Working freelance

The primary way I gain new leads is via referral. Only 7 of my contracts in total were acquired via social media (4 via LinkedIn, 3 via twitter). This is likely due to my own lack of skill in promotion or a well structured marketing strategy. I’m also just a small fish in a big pond. I decided to kick twitter and facebook back in June as I spent too much time on them with little return. It has also made me a million times more productive without having the stress of keeping up a positive and self-congratulatory web personality, not that I was ever a bundle of joy with widely agreeable perspectives on things…

Whether you are a company looking for a first security assessment or a company looking for their first REAL security assessment. I can deliver. I’ve seen enough poor reports and snake oil over my years to be confident that I produce high quality work with impactful advice for very fair prices. If you need consultation for any of your security concerns, feel free to reach out via info @ securit.ie.