Storm Technologies gets better protection with Arctic Wolf
01 OVERVIEW
Company at a glance:
Established in 2000, Storm Technologies has grown to be one of the UK's leading providers of IT infrastructure, services, and support. Their goal is to deliver leading‑edge technology and exceptional service to customers in corporate and public sector organisations. Storm Technologies works with and is accredited to the highest levels with all the leading vendors in the IT industry, including HP Inc, HPE, Dell Technologies, Lenovo, Cisco, Microsoft, Citrix, and VMware, and works with organisations across 110 countries.
Challenges:
- Inability to prioritise vulnerabilities and implement strong, proactive attack surface management.
- A lack of 24×7 monitoring across their security environment.
- A need for human‑led support that could identify and mitigate threats to their environment.
Results:
- Full visibility across the attack surface alongside guided risk‑based vulnerability management provided by Arctic Wolf Managed Risk.
- 24×7 monitoring, detection, and response of networks, endpoints, and cloud environments through Arctic Wolf Managed Detection and Response (MDR).
- Works with the Arctic Wolf Security Teams to swiftly act when threats occur, receive security posture guidance, and fine‑tune alerts to create a more optimised workflow and a more secure environment.
02 INTRODUCTION
Arctic Wolf Provides Partnership that Surpasses In‑House SOC for Storm Technologies
Storm Technologies is a UK‑based organisation that provides IT infrastructure solutions to the corporate and public sectors across 110 countries. Operating as an industry‑leading firm for the past quarter century, Storm Technologies understands the value of a strong cybersecurity architecture. The firm is tasked daily with keeping their clients operational, optimised, and secure, and holds itself to the same scrutiny.
“There isn’t really any vendor that does everything that Arctic Wolf does.”
“We have to be ahead of the curve, and we need to make sure our standards are better than our customers,” said Head of Information Technology Chris Gill.
While the organisation has been confident in their security controls, Chris knew that to stay on top of evolving threats and grow their client base, they needed to invest in 24×7 coverage, hands‑on support, and more proactive technology and measures. The team looked at a few choices, from an outsourced SIEM to even building a security operations centre (SOC) in‑house, but every option “felt more labour intensive and less seamless,” than Arctic Wolf, according to Chris.
“If we went with another partner besides Arctic Wolf, it would be relatively expensive for what seemed like an outdated model.”
After evaluating coverage, cost, and capabilities, Storm Technologies decided to partner with Arctic Wolf, specifically opting for Arctic Wolf Managed Detection and Response (MDR) and Arctic Wolf Managed Risk.
“We wanted a partner we can trust and rely on,” Chris said. “Who can help us understand how the landscape may be changing, in addition to our internal knowledge, and have that third‑party seal of approval. That’s what Arctic Wolf gets us.”
03 MANAGED RISK
Managed Risk Enhances Storm Technologies’ Security Posture
Before opting for Arctic Wolf Managed Risk, vulnerability management and remediation occurred too infrequently at Storm Technologies. According to Chris, the organisation had a vulnerability tool in place, but the coverage across their environment was insufficient, as was the IT and security department’s investment in utilising the tool for consistent remediation.
Managed Risk takes a more holistic approach to the often overwhelming process, using endpoint agents and multiple scanners to define their attack surface, identify vulnerabilities across the environment, and then assess those vulnerabilities based on internal and external risk factors. Endpoints, network, and cloud sources are all covered through continuous scanning, offering a tailored and data‑driven approach to vulnerability management.
“Not only are we getting details from the agent,” Chris said. “But we are getting details from the multiple scanners as well. Having those regular scans highlights some issues that we can resolve on a proactive basis.”
With Arctic Wolf’s guidance, Chris’ team was not only able to start immediately remediating urgent vulnerabilities, but they were able to prioritise the workflow based on risk, location, and security goals. Managed Risk provides a dashboard which offers broad visibility into the organisation’s attack surface and highlights the various risk scores of certain vulnerabilities identified, helping a given organisation steadily reduce their risk exposure over time.
Previously, Storm Technologies struggled with knowing which vulnerabilities to remediate first, would find that certain patches didn’t take, or that the team was unintentionally ignoring certain vulnerabilities. Those issues, and subsequent risk, have been greatly reduced with Managed Risk.
“We are able to break it all down, manage it, and see how each vulnerability is built into the risk score,” Chris said. “So, you can attack the most important ones first.”
While proactive security is vital, partnering with Arctic Wolf means that Storm Technologies knows Arctic Wolf is watching 24×7, ready to react as well.
04 MANAGED DETECTION AND RESPONSE
Managed Detection and Response’s Around‑the‑Clock Coverage Raises Security Standards
A major worry for any organisation is the middle‑of‑the‑night phone call alerting them to a serious security incident. It’s one of the reasons Storm Technologies set out to increase their security posture with 24×7 coverage.
Through Arctic Wolf MDR, that concern is eased. The platform offers full‑time monitoring of the networks, endpoints, and cloud environments, and through Arctic Wolf Security Teams, can provide fast, rapid response to threats before they become expanded incidents.
“If something happened out of hours, Arctic Wolf is able to isolate the device and deal with that issue, so we don’t get a phone call out of hours,” Chris said. “Peace of mind is a key benefit.”
This full coverage is possible through a human‑technology partnership. The Arctic Wolf Security Operations Platform collects, enriches, and analyses data across the organisation, then generates alerts based on pre‑determined metrics, threat intelligence, and severity - sending only the most urgent alerts to Storm. Continuous fine‑tuning with their Concierge Security Team (CST) ensures Storm’s small team isn’t overloaded.
“It’s good to know that these sorts of behaviours are getting picked up, evaluated, and sent through to us,” Chris said. “The reports we get on a weekly and monthly basis are good as well.”
This partnership provides visibility, around‑the‑clock protection, and rapid action when needed - preventing escalation and reducing risk for both Storm and its clients.
05 A MORE SECURE FUTURE
A More Secure Future Made Possible by Arctic Wolf
The goal for Storm Technologies when they began searching for a SOC partner was to stay ahead of the curve and raise the bar for internal security. They needed full coverage at a sustainable cost - a rare combination.
“Even if we were running our own SIEM, we’d have to put resources on it and would never get that 24×7 coverage we have now without paying three times the amount in salaries alone,” Chris said.
After more than a year with Arctic Wolf, Chris is confident the partnership has helped Storm Technologies exceed their goals.
“Having that set of eyes telling us information about our environment that we maybe wouldn’t have known about, telling us about issues going on we wouldn’t have flagged, that’s been really good,” Chris said.
“We would never get that 24×7 coverage we have now without paying three times the amount in salaries alone.”