In the good old days, we IT folks would boil down the complex world of security into an image of a brick wall. While certainly an oversimplification, it represented the general approach of securing a network from the bad guys on the outside with a firewall – a modern day moat, if you will.
But the IT world has moved well beyond this. Just like in medieval times, cities sprang up, and commerce moved from inside the moat to freely conducting business on the outside. Today’s IT world shows the same trend: Cloud services, a mobile workforce and a highly networked world necessitate that business applications be widely accessible. All of this makes for a complicated security landscape that must balance the needs of the business while considering new and emerging threats.
So how does a security solution provider broach such a complicated conversation with time-starved business owners? With CompTIA’s new Security Assessment Wizard, built by CompTIA’s IT Security Community. The tool is currently in beta and available for free to CompTIA premier members. Once it’s out of the beta phase, it will be available for registered users as well.
Using the Security Assessment Wizard
The assessment wizard allows you to build, step-by-step, a security profile with your customers. The wizard begins by asking questions about their businesses — what verticals they serve, plus things like locations and policies — then asks basic questions about business operations and technical infrastructure; things like servers, laptops and mobile solutions. The categories expand and contract to collect relevant information as you and your prospect talk through them. Finally, the Security Assessment Wizard probes the organizations’ uses of security tools.
The tool was designed to facilitate a natural and methodical conversation and to build customer confidence: You’re building a comprehensive approach to securing a business, together.
Once you’ve completed the questions, the Security Assessment Wizard produces a comprehensive security analysis of an organization. In areas where there are vulnerabilities, it provides a definition of suggested tools — UTM, IPS/IDS, encryption — plus risks and benefits to the business.
At this point, you have provided tremendous value to your customers through the generation of this comprehensive report, a big step in making the complex world of security easy and manageable.
Your security solution provider benefits, too, since the analysis naturally leads to a discussion on solutions needed to fill the gaps that come up in the security profile. The Security Assessment Wizard positions you as a security expert attuned to the needs of the business while simultaneously positioning you for sales. Now that’s an easy button we can all use!
Try the Beta Version Today
While still in beta, future iterations of the Security Assessment Wizard will be fine-tuned and include more features, allow for white labeling, let members create templates, and let users store and retrieve existing prospect security profiles. Premier members: Try the Security Assessment Tool today. Registered users can upgrade to premier membership to see it in action.
Watch this space for more news on the insight and tools coming from CompTIA and our varied communities. If you’d like to get involved in the IT Security Community and help drive this important initiative forward, visit the IT Security portal and request to be part of the community.
Jim Hamilton is CompTIA’s vice president of member communities.
