Security Colony may not have the name recognition of some of Trustwave’s other security products and services, but when experts discuss and measure Trustwave's strengths, this repository of knowledge is almost inevitably brought up in the conversation. For example, over the last several years, the industry analyst firms IDC, Frost & Sullivan, and ISG have all called out Security Colony as a primary reason why each selected Trustwave for various accolades.
Just a quick refresher. Security Colony, which has free and subscription services, and is bundled with Trustwave Managed Detection and Response offerings, is a resource library of 400+ documents derived directly from real-life consulting engagements with clients. The project deliverables have been anonymized and made available to clients. Organizations benefit from the extensive library of policies, standards, templates, and tools that support a broad range of topics, including international frameworks, planning documents, and reporting, amongst many others.
In IDC MarketScape: Worldwide Emerging Managed Detection and Response 2024 Vendor Assessment, in which Trustwave was named a Leader, Security Colony was credited with impressing its users. In the report, IDC noted that “Trustwave clients indicate that Security Colony is a valuable resource that has helped them improve their overall security maturity."
However, this is not the first time the analyst firm has praised Security Colony.
In 2022, IDC called Security Colony a unique offering that is designed for CISOs and provides a wealth of toolkits, guidelines, playbooks, and assessment capabilities derived from global cybersecurity consulting engagements.
At that time, IDC's Craig Robinson, Research Vice President, Security Services, and Cathy Huang, Research Director, Security Services Worldwide, in a research opinion paper called Trustwave's recent inclusion of a Security Colony subscription with its two Managed Detection and Response offerings as a feature setting the company apart from the competition.
"The hidden gem of Trustwave Security Colony finally gets its day in the sun by being packaged up in both tiers. Yes, having a dedicated client success manager in both tiers is nice, and the security engineers that sharpen the analytics, rules, and policies for optimal performance and detection is a welcomed feature, but the true differentiator in this announcement is the inclusion of Trustwave Security Colony," the IDC researchers said.
A Security Colony, “offers a resource library with documents and videos to give guidance on a variety of cybersecurity needs, such as DevSecOps, incident response, cloud security, policy documents, security testing, and more,” IDC said.
The analyst firm continued noting Security Colony's “video library topics include threat and response forecasting, privacy and GDPR, business email compromise, and other topics. Free, open source, and commercial tools are available in its vendor risk assessment offering, along with maturity assessments, ransomware readiness assessments, and breach monitoring round out their online portfolio, and a personal security consultant is also available to answer quick questions.”
Frost & Sullivan put the spotlight on Security Colony in September 2024 as one of the many reasons why Trustwave was named Best Practices Company of the Year Award in the Americas Managed Security Services (MSS).
The analyst firm described Security Colony as "one of the most powerful differentiators currently in the space.” Additionally, Frost & Sullivan noted that Security Colony provides access to an entire library of resources developed for Trustwave's clients (who have agreed to share the fruit of their investments with others), a wealth of knowledge that includes years' worth of security consulting data, reports, and insights.
"All of these capabilities synergize with Trustwave's entire security suite and help CISOs make important security decisions: having access to these tools and information can mean the difference between a breach and repelling an attack," the report stated.
The report said Trustwave has infused the same hacking ethos that programmers and developers in the free software movement have long had in place: the idea that knowledge should be shared. Security Colony provides access to an entire library of resources developed for Trustwave's clients who have agreed to share the fruit of their investments with others. These include:
Security Colony showcases many of the company's capabilities, including consulting and assessment services. It benefits companies with tighter budgets and entices those with resources to spare to partner with Trustwave, providing untold value while creating numerous growth opportunities for Trustwave. The company should continue to expand its features as much as possible, Frost & Sullivan said in the report.
ISG described Security Colony as an important value-added service that was a key reason behind the analyst firm's decision to name Trustwave a leader in the ISG Provider Lens for Managed Security Services (MSS) for the US Midmarket.
ISG noted thatSecurity Colony empowers clients with valuable resources from the company's consulting engagements, providing effective solutions to enterprise challenges, making it a crucial asset. Trustwave also provides webinars, executive engagements, and threat briefings for selected clients.