eSentire

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m head of information security at an alternative investment management company. We’re a wholly-owned subsidiary of a large management consulting company.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with eSentire?

We use them for managed security services. They offer us three managed services. 

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

They manage three of our code-managed services. The first solution is an endpoint security tool that sits on all desktops and servers to protect against malicious activity, viruses, and malware. Co-managing that service, they examine alerts and escalate issues when we need to take action. There are also ways for them to proactively block potential issues when they see something that shouldn’t be happening. 

The second co-managed service is vulnerability scans. Aside from paying the fee for the licensing of the tool, they also schedule scams and produce reporting after each of our vulnerability scans. They help us understand the reports and what needs to be remedied. The last service they provide is intrusion prevention (IP) as a service. They have their own tool that sits on our network that allows them to monitor traffic in and out of our network.  With that, they can proactively block malicious connections to third-party sites that we shouldn’t be connected with in order to block avoidable attacks.  

What is the team composition?

We have a dedicated customer success manager, sales representative, and subject matter experts for each of the three services they provide. We primarily interface with their internal security operations center. Once they find alerts, the center escalates them to us so we can investigate the problem together.  

How did you come to work with eSentire?

We became a client of theirs at a previous company when we moved away from our past provider. In that engagement, we appreciated the smooth transition and flexibility they provided with our managed IT services. I agreed to serve as a reference to them whenever they needed it because of the positive experience. When I came to this company, they were already a client of the center. 

How much have you invested with them?

We spend about $150,000–$200,000 annually with them.

What is the status of this engagement?

We’ve been working with them since about January 2016.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement?

It’s been a good working relationship. When we’ve pointed out issues in the past with monitoring coverage, they’ve been very quick to fix things. If there’s a process break or coverage drops under 100%, they’re quick with solutions. That’s why I enjoy working with them the most. They’re very responsive to their clients. For the most part, their coverage well protects us from network or endpoint threats. We’re very happy with the quality of their services and their responsiveness to their clients.  

How did eSentire perform from a project management standpoint?

We communicate with them primarily through email. However, for ongoing incidents, we pick up the phone and call their security operation center. There’s a direct number that goes straight to their team to help us investigate. They’ve very responsive in our communications through email and phone. 

What did you find most impressive about them?

Larger companies with larger clients can’t worry about the small stuff as much because they have a responsibility to make their high-paying clients happy. They treat all their clients equally, always trying to prevent bad things from happening. If they miss an alert or opportunity to prevent a breach, they know their reputation is on the line. Their responsiveness and willingness to listen helps address concerns and coverage gaps.   

Are there any areas they could improve?

They’re working to better aggregate data across all three of their services to us. That will help them better correlate issues between endpoint, vulnerability, and IP. Once they have their solution complete, they should be able to be more proactive in their investigations when something goes wrong. They’re working on a comprehensive review solution around big data, and we’re looking forward to seeing that from them. 

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Communicate with your customer success manager and attend the quarterly touchpoint meetings they offer. That way, when you update and renew your engagement with them, you’ve consumed their information and reporting over time. Then, you’ll be able to effectively tweak your internal security program to ensure you have the right coverage. Those findings will be critical for any client.