THE CYBER SECURITY BIZ

McAfee/NitroSecurity, Industrial Defender Score Highest in New Pike Research Assessment of Smart Grid Cyber Security Governance and Compliance Providers
March 1, 2012 (Pike Research)

"Governance, risk management, and compliance (GRC) may be the least glamorous discipline of cyber security. Not many security developers yearn to spend months designing a security policy repository when they could be researching new encryption algorithms. But these areas are critically important, as they form the foundation upon which all cyber security is deployed…

"…GRC for smart grids has only recently emerged as its own market, and the players are split among providers with innovative or direct approaches to smart grid cyber security and large and powerful vendors that sell industry-agnostic solutions into this market. According to a new Pike Pulse report published by Pike Research, the vendors that have focused most tightly on control systems innovation, and somewhat distanced themselves from the field, are McAfee/NitroSecurity and Industrial Defender…"

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"…[They ranked highest] based largely upon recently acquired Nitro’s GRC capabilities. McAfee’s acquisition of NitroSecurity, which had already positioned itself as a smart grid specialist, killed two birds with one stone, by plugging a gaping hole in the McAfee product line and giving McAfee instant credibility in control systems markets. With a long history of focus on control system security, second-ranked Industrial Defender was early to recognize the importance of governance, risk management, and compliance, even in an industry that does not yet have very many enforceable standards.

"RSA, the security division of EMC, ranked a strong third…near the top of the Contenders category…[in the] “Pike Pulse Report: Smart Grid Cyber Security Governance, Risk Management, and Compliance”…[It] evaluates 14 of the leading cyber security governance, risk management, and compliance vendors in the smart grid market and rates them on 12 criteria for strategy and execution, including vision, go-to-market strategy, partners, product strategy and roadmap, technical innovation, geographic reach, market share, sales and marketing, product performance and features, product portfolio, control system focus, and staying power…"