We are closing the book on another raucous year in cybersecurity, and the action never seemed to decelerate. From WannaCry and Petya ransomware outbreaks to bombshell breaches and ignominious incidents, 2017 lived up to its sinister hype and brought no rest for the weary.
If there was a silver lining to be had, it is that the year may have awoken more organizations than ever to the fact that everybody is a target and, most importantly, nobody can ensure perfect security. Attack surfaces are too large, organizations are too resource-strained, and cybercriminals are too good at what they do - all of which, among other factors, make it almost impossible to keep your adversaries out.
With the agonizing aftermaths of the year's highest-profile data breaches on public display, companies are being force-fed the notion that how you respond to a security situation is as important as the steps you take to protect yourself in the first place. 2017 has sped up that learning process considerably.
Continuing to help companies augment and overcome their internal challenges and educating them on the importance of concepts like threat detection and response were two of the items that defined 2017 for Team Trustwave.
In what has become an annual tradition, we're pleased to share our greatest triumphs of the past year, specifically our Top 17 of 2017. It is our way of showing you just how proud we are of our accomplishments and achievements of the past and how committed we remain an exciting future.
Alright, time to pop the bubbly. Here we go.
We were named Best Managed Security Services Provider (MSSP).
This is one of our proudest accomplishments in our 20-plus-year history. Risks and employee skills gaps are driving the need for external expertise to handle security tasks and operations, from the remedial to the complex. The managed security services market is exploding as a result, and we are honored and grateful to be considered the pinnacle of providers, earning top honors at SC Awards 2017.
We opened a dazzling new headquarters in downtown Chicago.
We care a lot about helping you build a security culture (we'll talk about that a bit later), but we also believe highly in the impact that a strong Trustwave employee culture has on the work we do for our customers. And the physical HQ space in which we work has a lot to do with shaping that. We absolutely adore our sweet and shiny new digs in the Windy City. Even Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel stopped by to wish us well.
We unveiled a new service to help you sniff out threats.
Part of what has made our managed security portfolio so praiseworthy it its ability to relentlessly keep up with your needs. As breaches pile up, you require a solution that can help proactively detect and respond to active attacks before major damage can occur. As part of our Managed Detection and Response service, we announced a cutting-edge threat hunting offering, as well as other enhancements.
We brought advanced threats out of the dark and into the light.
Our illustrious Trustwave SpiderLabs team is always helping to keep you safe by discovering new threats, such as one-off malicious spam campaigns, but they occasionally discover something much more prolific. Such was the case with a comprehensive report on the massive Carbanak malware operation that we code-named Operation Grand Mars. Later in the year, we exposed a sophisticated "hybrid" banking scheme operating out of Eastern Europe, which earned tens of millions of dollars for its duplicitous cohorts.
We got a leg up in the 2017 Gartner Magic Quadrant for Managed Security Services.
For a second consecutive year, Gartner positioned Trustwave in the "Challengers" quadrant of its annual Gartner Magic Quadrant for Managed Security Services, a report that evaluated 16 global MSSPs. Our regional telco partnerships, expanded geographic security operations footprint, large portfolio of security technologies, support for third-party security vendors, and threat intelligence and incident response delivered by Trustwave SpiderLabs all contributed to our prominent standing in the report.
We shared the stories of our hometown cyber heroes.
Our employees are the beating heart of Trustwave - the ones not only responsible for what we make, but what we make happen. We presented a new web page dedicated to sharing their stories, showcasing their personalities and passions, and chronicling how their work connects with the needs of our customers. We have so many incredible people at Trustwave - now you can discover what drives them to be cyber heroes.
We added another trophy to the mantle: Best PCI Compliance Provider.
Trustwave planted its roots in PCI compliance more than 20 years ago, and we've never stopped providing world-class services around the payment standard for millions of merchants. Our PCI leadership, even as we've grown into a managed security powerhouse, has stood the test of time - and validation from the industry came when we were bestowed as Best PCI Compliance Provider at the 2017 CNP Awards, our second time winning the prize in as many years as it has been offered.
We turned the volume up on our channel partner program.
Our channel partner program got a big-time boost with a new learning system and portal that will make life significantly easier for our comrades in arms. Enrollees in the Trustwave Academy for Partners can use it to better understand customer challenges and how managed security can help. In addition, a self-service hub now provides partners with instant access to our marketing materials, sales information, product documents and technical support.
We got you covered on the GDPR.
The General Data Protection Regulation, pending legislation that will require businesses to protect the personal information and privacy of European Union citizens, will have far-reaching effects. To specifically help businesses respond to the new requirements, we announced three consultative and assessment services that will ready them to comply once the enforcement date arrives in May.
We helped you strengthen your security culture.
If security awareness is a difference maker, then security culture is a total game changer. " The Complete Guide to Building a Security Culture" is a 25-page e-book we published and is designed to walk security leaders through the important task of spreading security attitudes, beliefs and practices throughout the organization, from the board and C-suite down and across departments.
We measured your security resource limitations - specifically budgets, skills and personnel - in the "Money, Minds and the Masses" report conducted by Osterman Research.
We discovered two major vulnerabilities in Netgear routers - and the fallout turned into a case study of how researchers and vendors can cooperate following a disclosure.
We looked back on 12 months of vulnerability, threat and breach activity to formulate patterns of attack that you can use to assess your exposure and fight off an active siege with the 2017 Trustwave Global Security Report.
We raised the curtain on a Transaction Laundering Detection Service to aid service providers in flagging fraudulent merchants associated with illicit websites.
We quantified the security pressures you face, from operational restraints to data breach worries to people pressures, in the 2017 Security Pressures Report from Trustwave.
We partnered with Philippines-based Globe Business and U.K.-based e92plus to help expose new businesses to the benefits of managed security.
We enlisted the best and the brightest to our ranks - many who found us and learned about us from our new careers page - and we're looking to hire for dozens of more open positions globally.
Happy New Year from our family to yours - and we look forward to having your back in 2018, and beyond.
Robert J. McCullen is CEO & President at Trustwave.