Case Study by Chris Hardman – Business Intelligence Manager, FB Rice
The Background
Founded 70 years ago, FB Rice is one of the largest and most respected patent and trademark attorney firms in Australia, with over 50 patent attorneys and over 155 employees located across Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Perth and Adelaide. As champions of innovation, our wide-ranging technical and industry specialists give practical advice by combining outstanding intellectual capability, creativity and commercial insight.
Our clients come from a broad range of enterprises, including start-ups, local and global corporates, international IP associates, research organisations and universities. While our clients’ Intellectual Property is our core business, we must protect any data that we collect, store, and use to do business. An attack on our network and any consequent breach of data has the potential to damage our reputation significantly.
The Goal
With cyber-attacks becoming increasingly common and sophisticated, we need to be confident that our network security infrastructure minimises our cyber-attack risks.
At the time of engaging The Missing Link, we had recently made some significant upgrades to our network infrastructure. We wanted further security expertise, external to the organisation, to validate our entire system infrastructure and processes.
The Selection Process
We knew we needed to partner with a company specialising in data security to advise on the best practice for Penetration Testing.
To achieve a thorough process, we did not want to use our existing network provider but an objective third party. The Missing Link was well known to FB Rice – we previously used them as a procurement supplier for around six years. Additionally, they had strong case studies from existing clients from various industries, which gave us confidence in their abilities.
The Relationship
The Penetration Test process was really smooth. Our network is relatively standard, so The Missing Link had an out-of-the-box solution that suited our needs. Once we planned the exercise, The Missing Link came on-site and did the testing over about seven days without asking any questions - just as if it were a real-life hacking activity. The outcome was a clear and thorough report on the vulnerabilities they had exposed. The issues were prioritised along with recommended solutions.
The Missing Link team was excellent to work with - we were impressed with their technical knowledge, and they demonstrated experience with many types of networks and products.
The Difference
Undergoing Penetration Testing with The Missing Link has provided FB Rice with more confidence in our network. It’s reassured us that the security infrastructure we have in place is minimising our risk of attack.
The clear differentiator between The Missing Link and many other vendors is they do not make you feel they are generating business for themselves, for the sake of it. When we explained we wanted a long-term security partner, they were proactive in laying out a roadmap to get our company to where we want to be over the next few years.
Having worked with The Missing Link, I’ve come to understand the level of knowledge that experts in the field have and the value of that knowledge.
