Cybersecurity that works

We live in a time of great change and uncertainty, and the very foundation of our Nordic societies seems challenged. We are used to Russia, China, North Korea, and Iran not following established rules, but now we also have to deal with a more unpredictable and unreliable USA. This is challenging for an integrated economy like Norway's, and it creates a more complex threat landscape for boards, business leaders, and companies to navigate.

New and serious risks

The situation reports delivered by NSM, PST, and the E-service paint a clear picture: We must deal with new and more serious risks, and prompt and concrete action is needed. IT risk is part of this picture and has become something that management must address as a business risk, not a technical issue that can be delegated.

Effective security with skilled professionals

At Sicra, we are focused on delivering real security improvements. This requires skilled professionals. It is not necessarily more legal considerations or long glossy reports that are needed.

NSM's Basic Principles, Chapter 1 starts with "Understand your own infrastructure and exposed attack surface." This is where most things still happen. We know from various sources that 60-70% of incidents start with known vulnerabilities that should relatively easily have been avoided. Nevertheless, the rarer and more advanced attack forms steal the headlines. This can lead to misplaced focus, although one should also plan for these. Start with the most effective measures first and work towards a modern security architecture.

The resource battle

The reality is that there is a battle for resources. There are too few skilled IT security professionals, and it is difficult for many to find the money and time to do everything that needs to be done. That is why Sicra has invested in concepts that provide real effect without bankrupting the client.

Sicra SOC: a solution for 24/7 protection

Sicra SOC (Security Operations Center) is a concept we built after observing some conditions over time. Businesses need round-the-clock protection. Reaction time, precision, and capacity are crucial. We regularly hear from our customers that many providers in the market struggle to deliver the right quality. We have seen several examples where the customer discovers the attack before the SOC provider.

Resource access and size

We believe resource access and size are crucial to being a serious player. The situation can be compared to the Cold War, an expensive arms race between strong opponents. The Soviet Union did not lose due to a lack of military strength, but because they could not handle the economic burden.

World-leading

That is why Sicra SOC is built on the world-leading Arctic Wolf's SOC solution. For us, it becomes a factory that delivers services from Frankfurt, Germany. Our own environment with experienced security specialists is fully integrated into the value chain and helps the customer both during implementation and along the way.

We have more than 30 organizations in Norway and nearly 50,000 users protected under the platform. Customers report in several cases that there is a class difference in quality and reaction time compared to what they have experienced before.

Economically advantageous

The economics of the solution are obvious. The solution starts at 250,000 per year for a smaller customer and works 24/7. This is 15-20% of what one would expect to pay for a qualified IT security professional working a normal day.

Many may entrust this task to an operations provider. We believe the potential conflict of interest in having providers who are supposed to operate the systems also uncover and highlight deficiencies in the same work is equally obvious.

Collaboration with River Security and Active Focus

We have also chosen close collaboration with River Security and recommend their delivery Active Focus. In short, it is a managed solution that continuously searches for and micro-penetrates possible vulnerabilities in the entire company's external digital attack surface – just as real threat actors do.

Full mapping of everything the customer exposes digitally

River Security maps everything a company has exposed to the internet, compares this with updated threat and vulnerability information, and immediately contacts the customer when they find a hackable vulnerability. We know that several successful attacks occur through old digital infrastructure that the company has forgotten is still powered.

Continuous testing and precise alerts

Many practice annual or semi-annual periodic testing on a smaller, limited part of the attack surface via a "friendly hacker." This contrasts with the solution from River Security, which investigates and micro-penetrates all changes in the customer's entire attack surface – all the time. Given that vulnerabilities are known to arise, be discovered, and published at a very high pace, we believe that periodic penetration testing does not provide sufficiently valuable results in itself. The model does not fly. It is also a fact that modern software development happens at a much higher pace than before, and the fact that something was tested last week does not necessarily reflect everything that is exposed today.

No false alarms

Alarm fatigue, i.e., important information drowning in the storm of vulnerability messages, is a real challenge. With Active Focus from River Security, the company gets continuous penetration testing of the entire attack surface and a precise alert only when something needs attention. False alarms are weeded out by River Security's experts, so the customer only needs to deal with things that actually need fixing. One of our customers called it "The best contract I have signed."

This Norwegian technology and services are already used by large companies in several EU/NATO countries.

Capital injection and new services

In 2024, Sicra became partly owned by Credo Partners. Through this, Sicra received capital that we are now using to build new services, capacity, and capability. From 2025, we offer, for example, experienced security leaders (CISO-for-hire) who can be hired for a limited period for easier accessibility and better economy.

The goal is to build a company that becomes a clear and business-oriented security partner for companies with ambitions. Troubled times are challenging, but it is also in such times that the adaptable take new positions and challenge the established.

Want to learn more?

E-tjenesten, PST og NSM la frem årets trusselvurderinger - regjeringen.no > (Norwegian Only)