Hakdefnet
Risk Intelligence for Enhanced Enterprise Security

"Security teams today face dynamic threats, and against that backdrop, enterprise security requires transformational and transactional leadership, and more importantly, a learning and research-based outlook,” writes Michael Goedeker in the summary of his visitation study of enterprise cybersecurity functions, for his Master of Science degree in International Business and Security at the University of Ulster (UU). The summary would later become the beacon for Hakdefnet—the company he founded and leads as its CEO—as it presents a pragmatic approach to risk management and risk intelligence to organizations worldwide.

Hakdefnet offers its virtual Chief Security Officer (vCSO) as a way for SMBs to protect their data, information, and company against unknown attacks. “Not every company can afford to hire an IT-Security Officer, and many victims are not aware of what happens to their private and confidential data after attacks. Our vCSO addresses these concerns,” remarks Goedeker. “The core principal of finding the ‘un-findable’ has always been front and center of our technology discussions and research.” vCSO, the enterprise risk management appliance, identifies and mitigates evolving threats and attacks that continually knock on the customers’ doors, transcending the limited capabilities of standard firewalls and antivirus. v-CSO is a continuous learning system that stays current on latest IT and infrastructure risks which turn out to be the best way to counter cyber attacks and protect data.

A multi-day (2-5) assessment of customers’ virtual environments is carried out by the team to assess the alignment of their infrastructures with standards like ISO27001 and ISO27002, ISF IRAM, COBIT 5, and NIST Cyber Security Framework (CSF). Following that, Hakdefnet’s vCSO uses its built-in risk management to enable their maturing journey to become more conformant to said standards and mitigate any threats that may evolve.

vCSO’s threat detection capabilities are powered by Hakdefnet’s risk intelligence platform engine, CyberNSight. The platform collates risk data from multiple sources and builds correlations between them, assessing both structured as well as unstructured formats.

The core principal of finding the ‘un-findable’ has always been front and center of our technology discussions and research

This ability allows the company to deliver practical risk intelligence even in abstract scenarios such as disgruntled employees attempting to divulge sensitive company data, occurrences on social media platforms, or potential exploits to an application that the Chief Information Security Office (CISO) is unaware of. Conversely, vCSO records risk statistics to build and update the knowledge engine in CyberNSight. A single intuitive dashboard offers easy-to-search keywords that would direct the user to risk statistics quickly, and the detailing of insights is set according to the presence and size of an IT function in the enterprise. Reports about threats and risks also contain the appropriate mappings to ISO27001/2/5, COBIT5, NIS CSF, ISF’s IRAMv2, GDPR and HDN’s own scoring framework. Pre sorted reports help all companies become aware of risks and also speed up audit processes through that awareness of where risks actually are.

Goedeker wants to break down the notion that cybersecurity is a technical discipline, and not a business area of interest. “An important aspect of our risk intelligence and risk management strategy is to interpret it as a business processes because it guarantees revenue.”

With the help of sophisticated neural networks and automation capabilities, Hakdefnet configures algorithms for each customer based on the risk entities they wish to focus on. A strong data science layer within the platform empowers it to scour risk factors previously unexplored, and respond quickly. “The implementation is done in an hour or two, and we reduce analytical turnaround times by almost ninety percent,” states Goedeker. The most critical step in risk intelligence and management says Goedeker, is in knowing where to look for data and preparing it to create value and prompt action. In the light of this statement, Hakdefnet's radar continues to see more and know more.