“Security for the new reality” – that’s HP’s theme at this week’s HP Protect 2013 event in Washington D.C. We took a look at the leading product announcements to come of the event, but there are a number of security services that were announced as well. Now many people want to just buy something out of the box and run with it, and HP’s numerous security products are designed to be easy to implement and easy to use. However, this is the enterprise we’re talking about here. That means a whole world of complexities when it comes to security. Again, HP is working to help customers rethink their security strategies, so that expert element in the form of services is a critical differentiator that makes all the difference in the world. HP has gathered extensive experience in cyber security matters around the world, and these announcements illustrate that commitment to enterprise security in a way that probably couldn’t be done by any other company.

Cyber Crime and threats- Up – Cyber Security – Same – that’s a trap that many have been stuck in for a while now, often applying under-powered, non-unified security constructs in the best way possible to deal with a rapidly evolving infrastructure and ever-increasing matrix of cyber-threats. From advanced persistent threats, to hacktivists, to malicious cyber criminals, to data leakage from mobility – all these threats are very much real. Yes, there are a lot of products out there, but how best to mitigate the swarm, and how best to implement them? Services is the answer. That’s why every opportunity we get to speak to HP’s Enterprise Security Services (ESS) CTO Andrzej Kawalec, we take it because the ESS division of HP has a thumb on the enterprise security landscape like few others. Another security wing at HP is the Managed Security Services (MSS). MSS is also an expert service that helps accelerate the identification of threats, response, and remediation. These service announcements are from both groups.

In our latest briefing, Andrzej went through all the state of cyber security and how HP is stepping up to the plate to take on the challenge through services. The enterprise is faced with a great deal of technical and operational challenges in achieving a solid state of security, but there is a great focus right now on a number of current-day pain points where a combination of product and services fit the bill. That’s one thing that is compelling about HP’s security products is that they tend to come stacked like this – product and service announcements across the spectrum.

HP Supplier Security Compliance Solution

HP’s Supplier Security Compliance Solution is a service that addresses one of the biggest problems in the industry today – the third party problem. Only services can address this. With nearly half of all reported breaches resulting from an error by a trusted supplier, this service fills that gap with an integrated compliance strategy through an organization’s supply chain. From things like data governance, to policy enforcement, to roles-based access, this service gives a corporation the control they need to maintain governance and compliance initiatives in their dealings with their supply chain. It is based on three services:

• HP Compliance Management Advisory Service – Risk assessments, best practices, identifying everything you should know about your environment.
• HP Managed Security Compliance Service – This customized service is where security compliance is reviewed and monitored.
• HP Managed Security Audit Service – Suppliers security standards are continually verified through this service in line with your policies, agreements, and regulations.

The results are consistent, measurable and a tremendous tactical asset to companies that do a lot of business like this and have tight security requirements. There’s a lot to protect, so a lot to implement.

HP Distributed Denial of Service DDoS Protection Services

DDoS attacks – a major pain in IT departments around the world. Stopping them isn’t easy and it isn’t cheap. HP’s services utilize the latest in cutting-edge security tools to provide a service to help stop DDoS attacks cold. 24/7 event monitoring is combined with expert analysis through MSS to help organizations detect and combat DDoS and web application attacks effectively and help minimize down time and outages. Attacks in this realm are often multi-layered, with attack vectors coming from any number of sources including the cloud, including botnets, including points of origin around the world. This makes it difficult to be proactive in front of this type of operation. Again – very sophisticated threats if you are a target, so this service informs customers of all the latest DDoS threats out there and those specific to their environments, with information on how to mitigate and even recover.

Continuous Monitoring for the U.S. Public Sector

U.S. government agencies get the best that security technologies and services have to offer here.  With IT security risk posture assessments, remediation, vulnerability identification and more, the service also delivers an active monitoring of security threats, potential vulnerabilities that can threaten an organization.  Visibility is the key here and the service delivers active knowledge about what’s going on in these highly sensitive environments at all times.

 HP Comprehensive Protection for the Extended Enterprise

Mobility is still a problem for many people.  They have implemented or half-implemented a variety of products that may or may not actually suit all their needs and requirements.  Resources are tight and there’s little time or effort to waste.  This service addresses this complex, modern mix of mobile, social, and cloud.  It’s best practices, strategy, risk identification, and guidance on this evolving reality of modern enterprise.

As I mentioned, HP has put a tremendous amount of effort into composing intelligent products and valuable services that feature the challenges of the enterprise.  This is cutting edge, strategic alliance with what’s really going on as far as efforts and challenges in the business today and why HP offers distinct wins in enterprise-class security.