Tales from the FrontLine: Security is about connecting, not just protecting

I was in a meeting with my management team last week and my CTO Peter Alm’s answer to a question about a customer set off a bit of an epiphany for me. It was something I knew, but at that moment, it crystallized why this customer chose BlastWave over the competitive solutions they had evaluated.

And I didn’t see it coming at all.

Peter’s comment: “They chose us because we made it easy for them to securely connect all of their hundreds of remote sites and tens of thousands of devices in their distributed pipeline network.”

In security, the easy thing to do is focus on the protection aspect of our work. In Operational Technology and Critical Infrastructure, BlastWave is classified as a “Protection” solution in the Zero Trust and NIST Cybersecurity Framework taxonomies. How we do that is undoubtedly differentiated (based solely on customer feedback and success over the past 12 months!), and we focus on ease of use as a critical aspect of our value proposition. 

Specifically, we talk about network segmentation (or, as we implement it, software-defined microsegmentation) and how it prevents lateral movement by malicious insiders, hackers, or bad actors that may have achieved a foothold in the network and are seeking to implement a Living off the Land (LotL) tactic.

However, if you take a step back, we are segmenting because we NEED systems to talk to each other. We wouldn’t care about network connectivity or OT cybersecurity if they didn't need to talk. The customer's desired outcome is to CONNECT their systems and THEN protect them.

What Peter nailed is the real driver for the customer. “Make it easy for me to connect my devices securely.” BlastWave’s segmentation is not just about protecting; it is about connecting. In this customer’s case, the challenge was about scalability and simplicity. Rolling out a deployment across hundreds of sites and tens of thousands of devices wasn’t about microsegmentation; it was about secure connectivity. 

Sidebar: One of the things I love about Peter Alm is his ability to design networking solutions that function like IKEA furniture. It is easy to assemble, looks beautiful, and can be repurposed to fit your needs with minimal effort.

How can we connect your systems securely? Get a demonstration of our capabilities at https://www.blastwave.com/schedule-a-demo.