Port53
Safeguarding the Future of Work with Holistic Security

The launch of artificial intelligence (AI) v2 in 2017 was exciting because it changed the technology’s applicability from a concept that only seems all-powerful in science fiction to something powerful enough to change the real world forever. A largely disjointed technology before this point, AI could now share new improvements across models, making it significantly more proficient at learning.

Fast-forward six years, and the business landscape is still trying to bridge the data vulnerabilities created by the rise of AI with static and siloed cybersecurity solutions. This is driving a skyrocketing need for solutions that can deliver dynamic and adaptive security.

Today, AI and machine learning (ML) have taken centre stage in the news, on social media, and even in boardrooms across many industries. While some argue they will bring about positive transformations and improve efficiencies, others are concerned that these emerging technologies may render their jobs obsolete or fear the unknown.

New AI applications emerge daily, accessible to all and often for free. This equips attackers and defenders in the cybersecurity arena with cutting-edge tools, raising the threat of cyber-attacks to new levels.

While cybercriminals use generative AI to craft more targeted and effective attacks, security professionals leverage it to detect and prevent them in real time. The result is a high-stakes game of cat and mouse, where the battle lines are drawn between two equally intelligent and adaptive opponents.

What is known for certain is that AI and ML are transforming the cybersecurity landscape and equipping both sides with transformative avenues.

In light of this, hundreds of AI industry leaders recently signed a stark one-sentence letter warning that the AI they are developing could pose an existential threat to humanity.

“Mitigating the risk of extinction from AI should be a global priority alongside other societal-scale risks such as pandemics and nuclear war,” reads the statement from the nonprofit Center for AI Safety. This perfectly illustrates the need for a mindset shift, across practitioners and board members, from perceiving cybersecurity as an inhibitor to considering it an enabler of business. Working together with Cisco for over three years, this is precisely what Port53 delivers.

Port53 Protects Them All

Port53 is a global cybersecurity consulting firm that emerges as a security nerve centre, delivering solutions, services, and capabilities to help businesses secure their digital estate from the ever-changing threat landscape. Its competency is exemplified by its status as Cisco’s preferred managed services partner for XDR.

When announcing the XDR at the RSA conference, Frank Lento, Sr. Director of Global Security Sales, Partnerships & Ecosystems, said, “Through this collaboration, we will build a robust integrated security stack that works towards replacing the reactive state of cybersecurity with an AI-driven software and technology that dynamically identifies unknown threats and eliminates them in real time.”

While Cisco’s XDR solves the problems driven by siloed cybersecurity measures, Port53’s managed services proactively mitigate the risks of approaching digital threats.

Cisco XDR collects data from multiple security tools, such as endpoint protection, network security, and cloud security, and uses AI and ML to analyse it in real time. XDR can detect and respond to threats that may be missed by traditional security tools and provide a holistic view of the threat landscape to security teams. On top of that, Port53’s technology-enabled managed services offer scripted orchestration playbooks to quickly detect and remediate known and unknown threats and the ability to proactively protect against new threats without the need to manually create scripts.

Organisations, large and small, face many similar challenges. Both need to address the ever-evolving threat of a cyber-attack. Increased attack sophistication, a global shortage in cyber talent, and low budgets for cybersecurity put IT teams in a tough spot. Combine this with their reactive and fragmented approach to security, and they find themselves in the perfect position to be exploited by generative AI.

Flipping this script is Port53. It aids resource-restrained IT teams lacking big budgets or skilled cyber expertise to learn in real-time and build a strong security posture in today's digital-first world.

"If establishing a robust cybersecurity program is reaching the summit, we act as the Sherpas who support IT leaders and teams in building mature security postures and reaching crucial milestones on their transformation journey," says Omar Zarabi, CEO of Port53.

Helping organisations bolster their cybersecurity, the company delivers leading Cisco security solutions like Cisco Umbrella, Secure Endpoint, Meraki, Cloud Email Security, Duo Security, Cisco Secure Connect, and Cisco Secure Access, as well as other cloud-delivered security solutions like OneIdentity, OKTA, and NinjaOne.

All seamlessly delivered to the client via Port53’s proprietary Cyber Platform, driven by the technology solutions you implement, and the Cyber Services Port53 delivers to you as a managed offering.

Making Cyber Hygiene the Cornerstone of Robust Security

Recognising that maintaining cyber hygiene is the first step to combating cyber threats, Port53 offers six layers of technology to preserve holistic security, including dedicated measures for cloud, identity, network, email, and endpoint protection. Backing these solutions are its reliable offerings for end-user behaviour analytics, which detect unusual actions that do not fit normal user behaviour and help IT personnel proactively identify potential security threats.

"By understanding what's considered normal behaviour for users, endpoints, data repositories, and other network entities, it is possible to create a baseline for standard network activity. Once we understand what we consider as normal for your organisation, we can use deviations as leading indicators of malicious activity." states Zarabi.

Port53 leverages its integrated and holistic security technology stack to aid clients in deploying cyber hygiene controls. Security is delivered via APIs, which use cloud-powered delivery mechanisms to provide holistic protection to any device, anywhere, at any time.

Once security controls are integrated, orchestration playbooks are applied to support timely detection, response, and recovery from security threats. Above all, Port53 enables businesses to take a more risk-managed strategy, helping them move away from the reactive, ad hoc implementation of cyber control solutions to a proactive, data-driven, and efficient approach to boosting information security.
"It is like throwing spaghetti at a wall and hoping it sticks," says Zarabi. "Most SMBs with lean IT teams are continuously increasing their cyber spending, yet they are just as susceptible to cyber-attacks.”

Port53 addresses this problem by helping companies understand the desired maturity level and how they can achieve it via best practices based on their budget and needs. It aids businesses in identifying their current risk appetite, enabling them to develop a strategy to reach their target maturity level on schedule.

The Ethos of Port53's Solutions

The company’s products suite is enterprise-grade, cloud-delivered, cloud-managed, easy to deploy, and highly effective. It emphasises the seamless integration between security controls, the Cisco XDR platform, the Port53 Cyber Platform, and the overall orchestration environment. Above all, its portfolio's pre-integrated nature allows clients to quickly deploy robust security solutions within their orchestration environments and simplifies the utilisation of AI and ML for proactive risk management.

Apart from securing a client's environment, Port53 verifies that all key attack vectors are covered against emerging threats. For most businesses, the first solution deployed is Cisco Umbrella, one of the primary layers of security. It then leverages Umbrella for connection security while its Duo MFA security safeguards identity and access. Concurrently, clients can use Cloud Mailbox Defense and Cisco Email Security solutions to protect sensitive correspondences.

Port53 uses Meraki and Cisco ASA to strengthen firewall protection, while the Cisco Secure Endpoint ensures flawless user interactions. It also integrates the basic controls into its managed extended detection and response (MxDR) offerings to provide critical visibility into the network and cloud, reducing blind spots, detecting threats faster, and automating remediation.

Championing a Culture of Security

In the current business landscape, numerous enterprises tackle vulnerability scanning through manual and labour-intensive penetration testing, where a company launches ad-hoc attacks on its infrastructure to find vulnerabilities. In contrast, Port53 provides automated penetration testing, performing aggressive red-teaming to uncover elements susceptible to breaches. It drives the creation of a risk management approach by implementing a framework like NIST CSF, ISO 27001, and CMMC and assessing a client against it. Discovering where the gaps are and identifying their overarching security objectives supports them in devising a detailed roadmap. The company also offers user training while creating and fostering a culture of cybersecurity awareness.

Port53's security operations centre (SOC)-as-a-service sends clients weekly reports on their performance with SLAs and a feed showing attacks and dangerous threats observed in the market over the prior week.

It also keeps customers updated on the latest news regarding security, controls, products, and new releases through a monthly newsletter.

It hosts educational webinars that delve into relevant subjects, including AI, cybersecurity, and risk-managed strategy. While educating clients on emerging threats and innovative solutions, Port53 also learns from them. Keeping a close eye on their challenges, it expands its solutions portfolio and services arm in tandem with prevalent needs.

The company understands that cybersecurity in the digital era is a concept that will never have a one-size-fits-all solution. It opts for a series of consultative engagements when onboarding clients, collaboratively determining their cyber maturity, desired objectives, and challenges. Port53 also offers its solution free of charge for an initial trial period, allowing clients to test its ability to ward off threats and potential to enhance their security posture before committing to a purchase.

A Proven Partner for Cybersecurity Excellence

Recently, Port53 assisted a large healthcare organisation with 41 locations. Using its Cisco Umbrella solution, the company redesigned their entire network and resolved complications caused by a 15-year-old MPLS connection, a mishmash of various vendors, routers, and switches. The client was also disrupted due to the various security measures they implemented to align with their fragmented technology stack, including disparate firewalls, endpoint security, and email security solutions. The healthcare firm also needed to update their SonicWall firewalls, Aruba routers, and existing security.
Port53 helped them understand the need for an integrated security environment where their network and security controls work in unison. For this project, Port53 highlighted how it could position its managed XDR offering from a security perspective and integrate all Cisco security controls with its SecureX solution. Subsequently, it helped them orchestrate playbooks, perform 24/7 monitoring, and thoroughly understand the value and benefit of choosing a full Cisco Meraki deployment, a leading cloud-managed SD-WAN environment.

After considering this proposal, the client decided to green-light the collaboration. Today, they are fully operational with a new SASE driven and XDR powered network and security ecosystem that allows them to rapidly detect, combat, and mitigate cyber threats.

Similarly, Port53 has helped many businesses transition from their MPLS networking infrastructure with disparate network security to a leading-edge SD-WAN configuration. By integrating that SD-WAN environment into the Cisco Security suite through Cisco XDR, and then adding their managed services on top, Port53 has guided hundreds of clients as they continue on their Zero Trust, SASE, XDR and overall cybersecurity journeys.

Maintaining an Innovation Streak

A key differentiator of Port53 is its ability to provide cutting-edge solutions powered by a thorough awareness of each client’s current and future cyber maturity levels. Many of its proprietary or partnership-driven solutions are influenced by monthly calls with customers, where it tracks technology pain points and devises strategies to boost the capabilities of resource-constrained IT teams in managing and improving cybersecurity.

One of Port53's core tenets is the ABC principle, or ‘Always Be Curious,’ which drives its inquisitive organisational culture. Its staff knows the significance of asking the right questions and is dedicated to learning constantly. In pursuit of continuous improvement, the leadership team regularly attends seminars and cybersecurity conferences worldwide to learn from other professionals, vendors, CISOs, and CIOs about their problems and how they resolve them. This enables it to modify or expand its portfolio in a targeted manner and provide more value to clients.

Delving into how Port53's culture drives its success, Zarabi says, “We ensure our culture emphasises customer service to win over enthusiastic followers while improving their security posture."

A Roadmap for Long-Term Protection

Port53 aims to create a proprietary platform for orchestrating and automating manual cybersecurity operations, including detection, response, recovery, remediation, and self-healing. Instead of buying arbitrary technological products that operate in silos, it assists organisations in developing a mesh architecture where all controls deliver an integrated and comprehensive security posture.

Maintaining a robust product portfolio while constantly identifying and integrating the best-of-breed interoperable solutions, Port53 helps clients take control of their digital security infrastructure. For lean IT teams with limited resources, it continues to be a comprehensive and accessible one-stop shop for all cybersecurity-related solutions.

Summarising his thoughts, Zarabi says, "When there is a global threat, both public and private sectors must work together to solve emerging challenges, and Port53, with our solid Cisco partnership and cybersecurity prowess, is enabling this.”