Jul 8, 2021
Healthcare provider opts for 24×7 security monitoring service and protection at 40 percent less cost than hiring additional staff
THE CHALLENGE
As cybersecurity threats continue to proliferate, internal security operations departments at organizations worldwide must devote significant resources to managing and analyzing an unrelenting flow of alerts and notifications. To address this challenge, Magrabi Hospitals and Centers, a major healthcare provider in Saudi Arabia considered hiring additional security operations employees to provide 24×7 monitoring.
Instead, Magrabi determined that outsourcing to a managed endpoint detection and response service would provide more comprehensive protection and at a lower cost. Magrabi evaluated managed detection and response service offerings from Crowdstrike and Bitdefender and selected Bitdefender Managed Detection and Response (MDR) Service.
Mostafa Mabrouk, Corporate Information Security Manager, Magrabi Hospitals and Centers, explains, “We chose Bitdefender MDR because it would provide us with comprehensive endpoint control, detection, forensics, reporting, and protection. Viewing all the security components from a single console—from malware removal to sandboxing to quarantine to logs and more—was valuable to us. We also were impressed with the in-depth expertise and knowledge of the security analysts staffing Bitdefender MDR.”
THE SOLUTION
Bitdefender MDR provides Magrabi with outsourced cybersecurity operations 24 hours a day. The MDR Service incorporates industry-leading Bitdefender security technologies to provide comprehensive protection for endpoints, network and security analytics, and threat-hunting expertise from a Bitdefender security operations center fully staffed by highly experienced security analysts.
The MDR Service, which incorporates Bitdefender GravityZone Ultra, provides Magrabi with endpoint protection, detection, and response (EDR) capabilities across nearly 3,000 endpoints. Magrabi’s endpoints protected by MDR Service include Windows workstations; physical and virtual servers running VMware ESXi, Citrix XenServer, and XenApp; Citrix XenDesktop virtual desktops; Microsoft Directory servers, and Microsoft Exchange mailboxes.
Magrabi’s MDR Service also includes Endpoint Risk Analytics to assess, prioritize, and address risk coming from endpoint misconfigurations and vulnerabilities. In addition, the MDR Service analyzes suspicious files, detonates payloads, and reports malicious intent to administrators, and provides tunable machine learning, advanced heuristics, and anti-exploit techniques. Additional MDR Service modules selected by Magrabi include GravityZone Patch Management to automate patching of vulnerable applications and operating system components.
THE RESULTS
Magrabi places high value on the 24×7 monitoring, analysis, and remediation provided by the Bitdefender MDR solution. “The clinical staff at Magrabi provides patient care services that demand uninterrupted access to medical devices, IT systems, and data,” says Mabrouk. “The soul of Bitdefender MDR is the 24×7 monitoring of our infrastructure to support this vital mission.
We have access to real-time notifications of suspicious activity and the support of Bitdefender’s security experts to investigate and resolve any issues. The performance and protection provided by Bitdefender MDR has been perfect. We sleep better knowing Bitdefender will take action and stop an attack at any time day or night.”
Improved efficiency and productivity have been additional outcomes of Bitdefender MDR, according to Mabrouk: “Bitdefender has removed the headache and burden from our staff. We have saved 15 hours a week, giving staff more time to focus on security analysis and other IT areas that benefit our clinical and business operations. We calculated our operational costs were 40 percent less by going with Bitdefender MDR compared to hiring an additional three employees to achieve around-the-clock monitoring.”
Mabrouk continues, “With the GravityZone cloud console, it’s easy for us to check our risk score, activity, and history of any incidents. We also like that we can deploy agents throughout the cloud rather than directly on the servers. This contributes to high endpoint performance even during scans.”
Magrabi also depends on GravityZone Patch Management to automatically deploy security patches to servers in the Magrabi infrastructure.
The quality of the Bitdefender MDR experts also has been important, says Mabrouk: “The Bitdefender MDR team has been responsive, knowledgeable, and successful at protecting our valuable data. Our number one priority is providing top patient care and Bitdefender has been successful in supporting that at every turn.”
Mar 23, 2021
“BPS” in collaboration with “Al-Iktissad Wal-Aamal organized a webinar entitled “Cloud Talks 2021”, to discuss the services and applications offered by cloud computing providers in order to empower digital business transformation while preserving security, privacy and compliance with laws and regulations. Over 120 persons representing senior executives from 12 different countries participated in the webinar, which hosted experts from leading companies and technology providers from the MENA region.
The Digital Transformation Journey
Mahmoud Moussa -Senior Cloud Solution Architect for Data & AI, Microsoft – confirmed, during his participation in the webinar, that the “Azure IoT Edge” technology provided Microsoft allows the delivery of sensors from all the company’s departments and its use in order to connect to another backend related to the Internet of Things where the data is sent after being initially processed. He explained that cloud services seek to enable digital technology through several domains, most notably: The Internet of Things and Edge technology, advanced analytics, artificial and cognitive intelligence, graphic technique, Blockchain technology, digital workplace and 3D imaging.
For his part, the Sales Manager at Citrix, Abbas Ali-Ahmad pointed out that success will go to the organizations and companies that will be able to provide a stable and safe work experience. He emphasized on the importance of knowing how to support any type of users wanting to access information; whether they were employees, contractors or business partners, and the possibility to work from any place, using any type of device or computing system.
As for Eiad Al-Aqqad -the Principal Solution Architect at “VMware Cloud Providers Program”- he discussed the vision of “VMware Cloud” in the world of cloud computing, he explained that their vision allows users and cloud service providers to activate any application on any device of any kind.
Cyber Security and Cloud Computing
In a panel discussion, moderated by Parthasarathy Pillairkulam – EVP-Chief Information Security Officer at First Abu Dhabi Bank- General Manager of Capital outsourcing, Chadi Ghazal, indicated that his company was the first to own a cloud platform in the MENA region since 2000. He explained that cloud computing is a virtual process for hardware, software, networks, storage spaces and services used by developers to implement complex operations. Adding that when using cloud computing, companies are not compelled to purchase any new devices or services, however they need to upgrade their virtual storage for a certain fee.
As for Alain Sawaya -General Manager of the Jordanian “Zain Datapark”- he explained that his company is an entity that was founded to enable “Zain Group” to provide cyber security and cloud computing services everywhere. He added that every country aspires to have its own cloud located within its territory for multiple reasons: legitimacy, data sovereignty and to secure data especially for governments. Furthermore, he announced the transfer of severl financial and banking applications to private cloud servers.
On his behalf, Mohamed Ayad, Vice President and Business Development Manager of “Libyan Spider” considered that country cloud and public cloud approaches are closer to each other today more than ever, indicating that “Microsoft” is expanding this service very quickly.
Ayad pointed out that there have been concerns about data security and privacy from the very first day of the cloud model’s birth, which has greatly affected companies’ work. He continued adding that many companies have switched to using public cloud more than before due to the flexibility with which entrusted public cloud providers work.
On the other hand, General Manager of “Gulf Infotech” in Oman, Yahya Zakir Sait, said that the largest companies providing cloud services have neglected the Middle East region in 2009 due to the low adoption of cloud solutions, pointing out that the high demand for adopting these solutions has created a quantum leap for the region in general.
“BPS” and Digital Transformation
BPS provides vendors with multiple licensing programs, services and technical supports to partners in order to develop their businesses, in addition to “SAM” consultations. The company focuses on supporting MSP focused channel, telecom companies, internet service providers, database centers, service providers, integrated systems, managed services, software companies and IT distributors who are heading towards digital and cloud transformation.
The company always strives to add more services to its own affiliated program. It started its operations as a cloud distributor in 2005 and has earned years of local experience in the cloud channel business, to become today a pioneer in this field in the MENA region.
Feb 11, 2021
The ransomware threat is complex for MSPs
| only 31% of MSPs
are very confident they can secure their clients against future ransomware attacks |
4 out of 5 MSPs
confronted a customer-facing ransomware attack in the last year
|
24% of SMBs
have already changed MSPs in the aftermath of a cyberattack
|
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