SECNAP's Solid Security

Network Security

"The most serious threat lies in the often overlooked and undocumented Open Systems Interconnection (OSI) layers: politics, religion and economics," he said. "These undocumented layers often drive suboptimal decisions regarding information systems and data security, and can leave a program vulnerable to malicious intrusion or attack."

Scheidell founded SECNAP, a Boca Raton, Fla.-based managed security services provider (MSSP) in 2001. He was previously the founder of Florida Datamation, a real-time network system integrator where he developed and distributed products. "When we started, we found that a lot of security problems came from e-mail and e-mail spam," Scheidell said. "We couldn't find an antispam product that was better than ours to protect our customers." For Scheidell, e-mail security products, such as SECNAP's SpammerTrap and HackerTrap, are certainly the company's bread and butter. With tech security, in general, he also understands how tough it is to navigate compliance issues and difficulties with upper management that's slow to make necessary changes. "Organizations fear change even more than they fear hackers," Scheidell said. "[You should] pick your battles, and learn to suggest improvements in small increments rather than huge bites." Scheidell said companies are also wont to put on blinders when it comes to alternative vendors--content with the safe choice of the most well-known name in the business. "Sometimes technology exists on one operating system that doesn't exist on another, or it may be less expensive in terms of labor or licensing to use one system over the other depending on the business functions to be supported," he said. "It is easy to become comfortable with the operating system we grew up with rather than one that objectively makes sense as a solution for the organization." Economics also plays a major role in choosing alternative vendors as well, Scheidell believes, and top management does its company a disservice when executives focus only on the bottom line. He likes the famous quote from Richard Clarke, who served as a special cybersecurity adviser in the Bush Administration: "If you spend more on coffee than on IT security, then you will be hacked. What's more, you deserve to be hacked." When it comes to the channel, Scheidell believes in taking care of partners, and the company offers them a great deal of support. "We want them to be successful right away," he said. "Our focus is on the channel. The idea is to make money, and the philosophy is in building long-term relationships." Some of SECNAP's channel support includes passing on leads to partners and providing educational seminars. The company also has a 90-day ramp-up program where new partners get discounts and are given free, generic sales training--in other words, not just for SecNap products, but general selling practices. Jim Cook, executive vice president of Rsignia Inc., a security solution provider in Columbia, Md., characterizes SECNAP as a "very channel-friendly company," and is one of the top 10 companies with which he works. His company has been working with SECNAP for over a year. "From a marketing perspective, they're very helpful with their programs to offset our costs," Cook said. "For instance, they offer to run mailing campaigns; they produce the whole thing and send it out. SECNAP has impressed me not only with their products, but the attention they pay to the marketplace and what is going on in security issues--they're on top of the market."