Afrimat, an open pit mining company providing industrial minerals and construction materials, has enhanced its security profile through a comprehensive new IT security partnership with ICT firm J2 Software.
With a limited IT team in-house, Afrimat has partnered with J2 managed security services to improve its security posture across five key risk areas: emails, endpoints, internet access, mobile device management and human behaviour tracking.
Johan du Plessis, GM: technology systems at Afrimat, says in the current environment, in which cyber-crime is proliferating, Afrimat sought significantly enhanced security without having to grow its in-house resources or immediately implement a wave of new solutions. “By partnering with J2, we gained a team of cyber security experts on our side, who carried out a thorough risk assessment, developed a cyber security roadmap that addressed our business’s needs, and implemented appropriate solutions.”
J2 deployed Mimecast, Zscaler, Webrooot endpoint solution and Dtex SystemSkan to address Afrimat’s current security priorities.
Only months after the first solutions were implemented, Afrimat is already seeing business benefits, says du Plessis. “Just by seeing what has been blocked, the new reports we are able to generate, and the fact that we now have visibility that allows us to trace a problem mail all the way through our system for the first time are significantly beneficial for us.”
John Mc Loughlin, Managing Director at J2 Software, believes the key value for Afrimat has been the new-found visibility and reporting. “We identified this need early in the engagement, and in line with our focus on partnerships rather than box-dropping, we implemented solutions that would deliver immediate results,” he says.
Mc Loughlin notes that the IT environment has changed dramatically in recent years, and that customers today need a great deal more than just product: “You can buy just about any solution you want online nowadays, but knowing which one is appropriate, implementing and integrating it, and then managing the solution, can prove challenging. Most organisations have IT and information security resource limitations, so it’s important for them to have access to skilled IT security partners who can connect the dots for them and proactively maintain their security posture.”
“For Afrimat, the engagement with J2 is not just a client-service provider arrangement — it’s a true business partnership. We are able to call on them at all hours in the event of a problem, and we believe J2 has our interests at heart when proactively recommending new solutions to mitigate emerging threats,” says du Plessis.