Leading security consultancy, Sapphire, has been awarded a key network security contract by Jersey-headquartered Bedell Group. The work carried out will significantly strengthen the legal and fiduciary services firm’s external-facing security systems.
In order to benchmark Bedell Group’s existing security status, Sapphire has already conducted external penetration testing of the security of its Internet-facing systems. This has involved staging organised attacks on the firm’s firewalls and remote access solutions to identify potential vulnerabilities.
Following the completion of this initial phase of the project, whilst no major issues were discovered, Sapphire is now working to provide enhanced protection across Bedell Group’s entire network infrastructure. This involves the implementation of a more secure firewall and strong authentication for remote access, together with solutions based on the Microsoft Intelligent Application Gateway (IAG).
To conclude the project, Sapphire will provide additional penetration testing to prove that the infrastructure work has been successfully completed and the necessary network security enhancements made.
James Hamon, Information Security Manager, Bedell Group says: “A key driver for the project was the need to demonstrate to clients and prospective customers that we were adopting a best practice approach to network security. We are also conscious of the critical requirement to deliver secure remote access to our growing contingent of mobile workers and to provide guaranteed business continuity and disaster recovery across the firm.
“We chose Sapphire to carry out the work because it is a CHECK accredited tester and because it has a good reputation across the industry for the quality of its work and the experience and expertise of its consultants,” continues Hamon.
Another key factor was Sapphire’s ability to provide a holistic service across the project encompassing everything from penetration testing to quality assurance and from firewall implementation to design and consultancy. Also important to Bedell Group was Sapphire’s close working relationship with StoneSoft, whose StoneGate™ secure connectivity solution forms a key part of the firm’s security infrastructure.
According to Hamon,” we have been impressed by Sapphire’s professionalism, the quality of its technical work and its comprehensive reporting and we expect to continue working with them in the future.”
