ANSecurity - Experts & Thought Leaders

St John’s College, one of the historic colleges of the University of Oxford, has significantly strengthened its cybersecurity posture with the implementation of a Managed Vulnerability Management (MVM) programme delivered by long-term partner ANSecurity.   Founded in 1555, St John’s supports a diverse community of more than 600 students, a large number of staff and over 100 academic fellows across multiple sites in Oxford. With a small in-house IT team and growing cyber threats, the college needed a proactive solution to improve visibility, reduce risks, and free up internal resources. MVM service After more than 13 years of collaboration, the college turned to ANSecurity to design and deploy an MVM service built on Tenable Nessus. The service includes daily credentialed scans, automated vulnerability notifications, remediation validation, and monthly strategic reviews with ANSecurity consultants. Measurable results Since launching the programme in May, St John’s College has achieved: Over 50% reduction in critical and high-severity vulnerabilities Resolution of systemic issues such as broken Windows Updates, unsupported software, and weak cipher suite configurations Improved ability to challenge vendors using outdated or insecure systems Strategic resource allocation, allowing IT staff to focus on high-impact security tasks Matt Jennings, IT Manager at St John’s College Oxford said: “This service has freed up internal resources and helped us stop playing ‘whack-a-mole’ with vulnerabilities. We now know what to focus on, and how to do it. The support from ANSecurity has been invaluable in helping us become more strategic and effective.” Proactive cycle of risk management The programme has also introduced a proactive cycle of risk management, with daily monitoring of public-facing systems, monthly vulnerability summaries, and overnight verification of patch updates. St John’s College has worked with ANSecurity since 2013 on projects including firewall replacements, wireless network deployments, and strategic consultancy. The MVM programme marks the latest step in the college’s modernisation of its cybersecurity defences.  Matt Jennings added: “ANSecurity have always been responsive, professional, and understanding of our requirements. Their engineers are not only experts in their field, but also able to explain complicated issues clearly. We look forward to working with them for many years to come.”

ANSecurity, an advanced network, and data security company, has become a Palo Alto Networks Managed Security Services Partner (MSSP). ANSecurity has delivered Palo Alto Networks security solutions for over 10 years, and as David Hood, CEO, explains, “We already work with many of our clients using Palo Alto Networks technology as part of our own co-driver managed services methodology, and this certification is a formalisation of a long-standing relationship that validates that our security teams have the skill and expertise to implement and manage the entire product portfolio in accordance with best practice.” Availability on cloud categories The new Palo Alto Networks Managed Security Service Provider (MSSP) offering will also be available via the Crown Commercial Services G-Cloud 12 Framework as part of the 20 security-focused services that ANSecurity has available through G-Cloud across Cloud Hosting, Cloud Software, and Cloud Support categories. Stuart Taylor, WEUR channel director at Palo Alto Networks, said, "ANSecurity has been a trusted partner of ours for about 10 years, currently holding Platinum status. Palo Alto Networks is pleased to award them MSSP status." "We look forward to working together to help customers transition to a managed services model that offers many benefits in terms of delivering an improved security posture while overcoming the acute cybersecurity skills shortage we see in the market today.” MSSP offerings  The ANSecurity Palo Alto Networks MSSP offering includes support for Next-Generation Firewalls, Advanced Endpoint Protection, SaaS Security, and Centralised Management and is backed by a 24/7 Security Operation Centre (SOC). The services are delivered within a flexible engagement model using co-driver, a methodology that helps organisations to better tailor service levels and support to their individual needs.

Pulse Secure, the provider of software-defined Secure Access solutions, announces its new suite of secure access solutions for hybrid IT that provides organisations a simplified, modular and integrated approach to modernise access productivity, management and Zero Trust control. Pulse Access Suite Plus helps businesses of all sizes and industries consolidate disparate security access tools to gain seamless, secure access to applications and resources from any location, network and device. According to Enterprise Strategy Group, 36% of enterprises are actively integrating disparate security analytics and operations tools to form a more cohesive security software architecture. CISOs are seeking scalable, intelligent, and automated solutions that can greatly improve security efficacy, operational efficiency, and business enablement. Architectures and integrated platforms At the same time, more than half of organisations consider seamless compatibility with their on-premises infrastructure as the most important consideration within their hybrid IT strategy. As such, architectures and integrated platforms will continue to supersede best-of-breed point tools in 2020 to align with the changing security needs of hybrid IT, mobile workers, and IoT device growth. Pulse Secure’s Access Suite Plus portfolio offers a compelling package that aligns to this procurement trend" “While organisations typically model how ‘best of breed’ solutions align to their requirements, many buying decisions consider the broader value of buying complementary and integrated technologies from a reduced selection of vendors. Pulse Secure’s Access Suite Plus portfolio offers a compelling package that aligns to this procurement trend,” said Jeff Wilson, chief analyst for cybersecurity at Omdia. Enabling secure access solutions Pulse Access Suite is a secure access solution set that provides adaptive identity and device authentication, protected connectivity, extensive visibility and analytics, and threat response across mobile, network and multi-cloud environments. By consolidating disparate security access tools into an integrated platform, enterprises gain easy access for users and a single-pane-of-glass to streamline provisioning, management and scalability. Organisations can centrally orchestrate Zero Trust policy to ensure compliant access to applications, resources and services across distributed network, private cloud and public cloud environments. “Now more than ever, companies must enable Secure Access solutions that enable them to digitally transform their organisations while providing their users simple, secure, and consistent access to their applications and infrastructure regardless of where they are deployed and independent of device and location,” said Sudhakar Ramakrishna, CEO of Pulse Secure. Secure access functions “With our new Pulse Access Suite Plus, organisations gain more flexibility and capabilities to empower workforce mobility, and quickly scale secure access functions to optimise resources, support new business requirements, incorporate acquisitions, ensure business continuity and meet data protection requirements.” The Suite brings together a comprehensive secure access portfolio comprised of: Secure remote and cloud access with Zero Trust policy enforcement Multi-factor authentication (MFA) and single sign-on (SSO) Device compliance and mobile device management (MDM) Endpoint and IoT device profiler, and network access control (NAC) User and Entity Behaviour Analytics (UEBA) and anomaly detection Application delivery controller (ADC) and Web Application Firewall (WAF) Optimal Gateway Selection (OGS) High availability and business continuity options Pulse One centralised management Experience superior productivity The Pulse Access Suite Plus also adds numerous new functions into this integrated offering, including: advanced User and Entity Behaviour Analytics (UEBA), service level and high availability assurance through virtual Application Delivery Controller, and on-demand emergency capacity coverage. Cloud and security infrastructure “The Pulse Secure Access Suite, since its launch in 2017, has experienced widespread adoption by our customers representing more than 50% of our new business. The Pulse Access Suite Plus represents an acceleration of this critical initiative to deliver the capabilities and interoperability enterprises and service providers need to remain agile and experience superior productivity, visibility and compliance.” added Sudhakar. Pulse Access Suite Plus comes in essential, advanced and enterprise editions Access Suite work with an enterprise’s existing network, cloud and security infrastructure and supports physical, virtual and cloud deployment. The solution supports a broad array of applications; legacy, Cloud and SaaS. With Pulse Access Suite, enterprises realise lower total cost of ownership while attaining procurement, deployment, expansion and support advantages. Pulse Access Suite Plus comes in essential, advanced and enterprise editions – each edition extends secure access functionality to support hybrid IT access and Zero Trust control. Access Suite are available within annual subscription, licensed by concurrent or named user, with prices starting from $80.00 to $155.00 USD per user per year. Virtual and cloud configurations Pulse Secure Appliances, sold separately, are available in physical, virtual and cloud configurations. Pulse Access Suite are sold through a global network of authorised partners and managed service providers. “Pulse Secure is a dedicated and focused vendor that has listened to our needs and created a Suite that fits how we as a channel want to sell Secure Access,” said David Hood, CEO of ANSecurity. “It helps us win more deals and grow our existing customers. In the last year, we have doubled the amount of business we transact with Pulse and our pipeline is consistent. The shift towards the software suites has made it easier for us to close bigger and more profitable deals.”