Few repositories of cybersecurity knowledge are as broad, deep, and widely respected as Trustwave Security Colony. The industry analyst firm IDC has praised Security Colony, which sees clients and others interested in learning more about their cybersecurity posture download thousands of resources every month, much of which is available for free.

IDC deemed this information so important that, in a recent report, it named Security Colony a "differentiator" from others in the field.

"The hidden gem of Trustwave Security Colony finally gets its day in the sun by being packaged up in both tiers. Yes, having a dedicated client success manager in both tiers is nice, and the security engineers that sharpen the analytics, rules and policies for optimal performance and detection is a welcomed feature, but the true differentiator in this announcement is the inclusion of Trustwave Security Colony," IDC said in Trustwave Introduces Elevated Crowdsourcing to the Mix by Adding Security Colony into their New MDR Offerings, (Doc #lcUS49298622, June 2022.)

Security Colony is a powerful self-service resource for CISOs that houses hundreds of video and text resources spread across 17 topics. These resources are derived from decades of consulting work conducted by Trustwave security teams and SpiderLabs researchers. Essentially, anyone interested can find the same recommendations Trustwave made to its clients.

For example, a CISO looking to improve their organization's incident response capability can log in and find an updated response playbook the organization can use, customize it as needed, and implement. Is your organization concerned about mitigating insider risk? If so, Security Colony has simulation exercise frameworks available for download.

There are also times when a Security Colony visitor realizes that the task is beyond its capability to implement. In this case, a CISO can ask for help, and we will refer them to the right world-class security expert at Trustwave.

Check out the best components of Trustwave Security Colony and why CISOs around the globe recognize it as an essential battle-tested resource for improving cybersecurity resilience.

1. Resource and Video Library

At its core, Security Colony is essentially a massive and diverse repository of cybersecurity content collated into easy-to-navigate categories.

The Security Colony Resource Library is where hundreds of documents and videos can be found. Trustwave has created all the documentation based on actual work we've conducted for organizations, which we then make available to our subscribers. There are then two paths a subscriber can take. The first is to use the information for their edification. The second is to alter the content to create their action plan, knowing that Trustwave used the information stored on Security Colony to help another entity with a similar problem.

Security Colony is not a stagnant repository. The team updates the resource library with new content on a weekly basis.

Security Colony's Video Library contains a wealth of information for folks looking for an introductory lesson on a particular topic, say phishing or identifying an insecure Wi-Fi connection. Senior Trustwave consultants present the videos.

Other videos feature tutorials on getting the most out of a Security Colony subscription with instructions on navigating the site and using the various security tools subscribers can access.

2. Maturity Assessment

The Security Colony Maturity Assessment is a self-paced tool that measures whether an organization's security can defeat today's cyber threats. The threat assessment analyzes your industry and the nature and size of your business. It uses the NIST Cyber Security Framework to assess your ability to identify, protect, detect, respond, and recover appropriately to maintain a suitable level of security.

Areas covered include:

• Threat and maturity assessment and recommendations for prioritized focus on areas of weakness.
• Use the documents and score to justify the budgets for your next important security projects.
• Show your internal and external stakeholders how your security program is progressing.

3. Public and Private Forums

Security Colony maintains two types of forums. A public version for those who hold only a basic subscription service where you can ask Security Colony's cybersecurity consultants for advice and support.

A private forum is also available. It operates in the same manner as the public version, but subscribers can ask questions that may be too sensitive to discuss publicly. The private forum, however, is only available to paying subscribers.

4. Vendor Risk

Supply chain attacks are an increasingly common occurrence, so an organization must understand the risk imposed by their vendors. Security Colony uses a range of free, open-source, and commercial tools to complete over 20 distinct checks against a company's online footprint, packaging this analysis in an easy-to-use interface detailing the identified risks and providing an overall risk score and grade for the assessed organization.

These include:

• Assessing the organization for historical (or current) malicious activity.
• Assessing security misconfigurations and vulnerabilities related to server configuration.
• Assessing security misconfigurations and vulnerabilities related to email system configuration.

5. Breach Monitor

The Breach Monitor lets you know when and if your domains and related entities have become a topic of conversation on the Dark Web. The tool allows you to create a set group of searches that will run daily against public and private breach and ransomware sources. If a breach is discovered, Trustwave will issue a notification and point to the public and Dark Web data sources for occurrences.

6. Ransomware Readiness Assessment

Ransomware attacks continue to plague organizations of all types worldwide. This assessment will help ensure your controls are in line with the threats facing your business.

The Security Colony Value

Essentially, those who join Security Colony receive millions of dollars worth of consulting work for around $5,000 a year, depending upon the chosen subscription level. It's almost easier to spend more on tea and coffee in a year than for a subscription to Security Colony. It's the best value that allows you to keep up to date with what's going on and what you need in security.

The best part is one doesn't have to spend any money. Trustwave offers a great deal of free content.

Click on the image below for complete subscription details.

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