FirstNet Technology Services, a First Technology Group company, has broadened its security portfolio offering to include endpoint detection and response (EDR). As a long-time Fortinet partner, FortiEDR was the natural choice.
This is according to Dave Campbell, Product Manager: Cloud Services at FirstNet, who explains, “FirstNet holds an Advanced Level partner status with Fortinet. Our cloud and security services are underpinned by a range of Fortinet products, with the use of solutions including FortiGate, FortiAnalyzer, FortiManager, FortiEDR, and FortiToken, which makes the FirstNet and Fortinet partnership a compelling offer for our customers.”
“This experience has made us one of the top Fortinet partners in South Africa with a wealth of technical and sales knowledge, allowing us to deliver excellent solutions backed by superior technical abilities. Because of our large base of existing FortiGate customers, both on-premises and hosted, it was a no-brainer to extend our security offering using FortiEDR. It made perfect sense to be able to deliver an EDR solution that integrates into customers’ networks seamlessly while providing an industry-leading EDR technology.”
Campbell adds that the EDR partnership was facilitated with the assistance of Networks Unlimited, a Fortinet value-added distributor.
“FirstNet has had a relationship with Networks Unlimited for over 15 years now,” he says. “We understand each other’s businesses and have together developed solutions for a number of clients.”
Stefan van de Giessen, General Manager: Cybersecurity at Networks Unlimited, reiterates: “EDR solutions exist to detect and respond to threats that exist in the network. EDR can analyse the nature of the threat and give your IT team information regarding how it was initiated, which parts of your network it has attacked, what it is currently doing, and how to stop the attack altogether.”
“An EDR solution further protects your network by containing the threat and keeping it from spreading. In assisting with the FortiEDR solution, we have welcomed this opportunity to extend our relationship with FirstNet. Our two companies have worked closely together for many years now and it just made sense for FirstNet to turn to Networks Unlimited.”
Campbell notes that EDR offers advantages over the traditional endpoint protection (EPP) solutions. He explains, “Some traditional EPP products are simplistic and limited in scope compared to the modern EDR solutions. EPP is generally focused only on antivirus, which serves a purpose like scanning, detecting, and removing known viruses and different types of malware.
“An EDR security system, on the other hand, serves a much larger role. EDR includes antivirus but also contains additional security tools, for example, the ability to not only remove viruses and malware, but to automate this process and to also roll back an endpoint to a state of pre-infection, or reducing the attack surface with risk-based proactive policies. EDR security solutions are more suited for the modern-day enterprise.”
Campbell says customers, both existing and potential, can choose to deal with FirstNet with confidence.
“FirstNet is one of the first MSSPs offering FortiEDR in Africa. With our extensive knowledge of the Fortinet brand and its products, as well as our superior technical expertise, we can deliver a cost-effective EDR solution for customers with a fully managed service, otherwise known as our Managed Detection and Response, or MDR,” he concludes.
By Staff Writer.
