Secure Network Technologies pivots to attack response

SYRACUSE — Secure Network Technologies, Inc.’s newest product is a natural evolution of the services the company has provided since day one.

Founded in 1997, Secure Network Technologies (SNT) has always focused on helping its clients find and repair security breaches in their computer systems. Fast forward to 2020 and “cybercrime is on the uptick,” says Steve Stasiukonis, managing partner. Now add in threats like anonymous cryptocurrency such as Bitcoin and ransomware attacks, he says, and that’s where SNT’s newest product N.I.R.V. can help.

Short for Network Intrusion Response Vehicle, N.I.R.V. is a tool SNT can deploy to a company when there is an issue. “When they get hacked or broken into, the first thing they want is someone to show up on their doorstep to help them,” Stasiukonis says. Now, SNT can ship an N.I.R.V. kit to companies for them to patch into their network and it’s just like having an SNT technician on site.

“This is a game changer,” he says, even more so with the current situation in New York and around the country where many companies have shifted to a home workforce with the COVID-19 pandemic.

“We can be on their network in an hour,” says Kevin Conley, SNT’s president. With the N.I.R.V. incident-response system, SNT can hunt for malicious software, conduct a vulnerability analysis, and provide an immediate response to ransomware attacks.

SNT launched the product on April 1 and is rolling N.I.R.V. out slowly through its reseller channels as best it can with the current New York State on PAUSE executive order. That state directive has shut down much of business and daily life in the state since March 22 and is scheduled to continue until at least May 15.

There are three levels of subscription-based service, Conley says, raging from a platinum level where the client keeps an N.I.R.V. unit on site for immediate deployment down to a single-incident service.

“We’re really just trying to add layers of protection,” he says. “The criminals out there are as sophisticated, if not more sophisticated, than the companies out there.” With N.I.R.V., SNT wants to keep its clients ahead of the hackers.

 Along with launching N.I.R.V., SNT also recently spun off one area of its services into its own website to increase visibility of that service, Stasiukonis says.

The site, www.prosintsecure.com, launched last October and is now the marketing hub for SNT’s digital-intelligence investigation services. For years, the company has worked with lawyers who needed assistance in putting together cases against people who maligned their employers online.

“People are putting so much information on the internet,” Stasiukonis says. Prosint simply combs through those public postings and compiles the information.

Prosint can also provide travel advisory services to help corporate executives and high-net-worth individuals mitigate travel-security concerns, including listing acceptable hotels, medical providers, and more for areas around the world.

While the COVID-19 crisis has made it challenging to market new products and services, it really is the time companies should be looking into security solutions, Conley says. “Now’s the time the bad guys will be looking into getting into networks,” he notes.

Conley says SNT generated year-over-year sales growth of 100 percent in the first quarter and he expects that trend to continue for the rest of this year. He declines to disclose the company’s revenue total.

As the new N.I.R.V. product and Prosint investigative services take off, Conley says he hopes to add three new employees to the company’s current staff of nine.

Headquartered at 247 W. Fayette St. in Syracuse, Secure Network Technologies (www.securenetworkinc.com) also recently moved its offices from the second floor to the third floor in the building. The company now operates from 4,000 square feet of space that is more modern and laid out more efficiently for the business, Conley says.