Success story
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Real estate investment firm MARK creates secure digital foundation

MARK is a private equity firm with unrivaled experience in delivering world-class urban solutions. Ability, know-how and a true understanding of people’s relationships with the built environment are all key to the company’s success. With its team of specialists, MARK nurtures these qualities in every investment, from inception to divestment. Using its extensive network the team diligently scours and sources off-market opportunities, from city centre shops, offices and apartments to corporate opportunities.

Innovation and digitalisation are key to the company’s future success as businesses and consumers alike demand increasingly personalised and sophisticated experiences at home, work and play. MARK has offices in London, New York, Luxembourg, Frankfurt, Guernsey and Paris with around 100 users currently based in the UK.

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Firewall infrastructure review

With an original requirement to review the company’s firewall infrastructure, MARK engaged with a total of four cyber security solution providers, including Nomios Netherlands, with the intention of investing in next generation firewall technology. After a thorough evaluation of MARK’s security needs – including SSL decryption, application classification and policy enforcement – the team at Nomios Netherlands advised MARK that some of the features that were presumed essential were not in fact necessary at this point. For example, Transport Layer Security (TLS) 1.3 will make application firewalling and traditional SSL decryption via ‘Man in the Middle’ redundant in the future, meaning that relying on one technology would not prove to be a fruitful investment.

“From day one the Nomios Netherlands team made it clear that their priority is to offer impartial, practical advice which directly reflects the goals of the customer – whether that results in a sale or not. That is what sets them apart from other providers.” - Senior Executive at MARK.
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Network security assessment and penetration test

As a result of the advice given by Nomios Netherlands engineers, MARK then decided to engage in a Network Security Assessment and a Penetration Test through Nomios Netherlands. The network security assessment is a comprehensive evaluation of an organisation’s current network configuration, management and security capabilities. As part of the assessment, Nomios Netherlands will highlight any end of life (EOL) or end of support (EOS) milestones as well making recommendations for minor configuration edits and major concerns. Should any critical security issues be identified, the relevant parties within the customer organisation are notified immediately.

The assessment is conducted over five days, with an Nomios Netherlands engineer on site for one of those days. As well as identifying any concerns, the assessment also emphasises areas that are to be commended and examples of best practice. This helps organisations build upon what is working well and plan for a network infrastructure that will support future business growth. For MARK this was exactly the case, as the Nomios Netherlands team was able to report back and confirm the effectiveness of many of the network and security technologies that have been deployed to date. The engineers also made several recommendations to help MARK to continue to scale and mature its network environment with a view to facilitating future innovation and expansion.

Nomios Netherlands’s network security assessment provided us with a comprehensive overview of areas that currently meet or exceed our network and security requirements, as well as those which could be improved. What really stood out though was the calibre of the people at Nomios Netherlands. Their level of technical expertise is self-evident, what we weren’t expecting was such a high standard of commercial and business awareness. This is a pretty powerful combination which has inspired a high level of trust between the two companies.” - Senior Executive at MARK.

Nomios Netherlands selected as preferred security partner

In addition, the Penetration Test was used to ascertain the level of risk associated with existing hardware and software vulnerabilities. By replicating the techniques and tools typically deployed by hackers and other adversaries, MARK’s objective was to gain assurance in its current assessment and management processes.

Following the successful completion of both the network security assessment and the penetration test, MARK has confirmed Nomios Netherlands’s position as their preferred security partner moving forward and is planning to engage with the Nomios Netherlands team on a number of future projects.

“Both companies share a passion for creating the optimum environment for success, whether that is in terms of technology or urban environments. We’re therefore looking ahead to a mutually beneficial relationship with Nomios Netherlands.”
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