Modulo Security software program wins award at Microsoft Partner Program Awards 2004
Risk Manager™, a software program developed by Modulo Security to provide IT risk assessment and management of Information Security knowledge, was elected Best Security Solution in Latin America by Microsoft.
Modulo was one of the five finalist companies in the Microsoft Partner Program Awards, and won the Security Partner of the Year in Latin America award. The ceremony took place on July 12 at the Metro Toronto Convention Center, in Canada, during the Worldwide Partner Conference, an annual worldwide event organized by Microsoft for its partners. Executives and professionals from Brazilian companies were present, as well as Microsoft partners from all over the world.
Risk Manager™'s high level of innovation in the development of solutions on a Microsoft platform was critical in winning the award. The evaluation committee considered criteria such as the program's features, benefits to clients, ease of use, and adaptation of the technology to international laws, regulations and standards, one of Risk Manager™'s strong points.
This particular aspect was demonstrated by the Security Provider Program, a partnership model created by Modulo which allows other companies to offer security services using Risk Manager™, or even to integrate the tool with their own solutions, adding value to their existing services.
"Being internationally acknowledged as the best security solution in Latin America is proof of Brazil's potential and capacity to generate new technologies, particularly in the Information Security sector. An award like this one strengthens the position of Brazilian software companies and shows recognition of Modulo's nineteen years of experience and innovation in the industry", says Alberto Bastos, a founding partner of the company and one of the creators of Risk Manager™.
Submitting Risk Manager™ to this award was part of Modulo's strategy for internationalization of the software program. "We are currently translating the tool into English and Spanish. This should be ready by the end of the year and we will start to commercialize it abroad in the first quarter of 2005", says Fernando Nery, a founding partners of Modulo.
Delegacia Legal Case
In order to reinforce Risk Manager™'s capability and its benefits to clients, Modulo presented the case of Rio de Janeiro's Delegacia Legal state police station program, whose security management model was developed based on Risk Manager™. Among the benefits of the program, we can highlight the automation of the risk assessment process and the implementation of controls, as well as increased productivity and standardized security processes and controls, increased security awareness at all levels (police chiefs, landlords, citizens), and a considerable expansion of the internal team's skills and autonomy.
"One of the main concerns of the Delegacia Legal police station program is to maintain a high level of Information Security in the services provided to the population by the state administration . Use of Risk Manager™ has allowed us to identify loss factors, optimize security investments, reduce risk assessment costs, increase the team's productivity, and organize evidence for conformity with laws and regulations", says Csar Campos, Coordinator of the Delegacia Legal program.
Partnership
Partnership with Microsoft started in June 2003, when Modulo obtained the Gold Certified Partner and the Security Competency certifications, which demonstrate the company's competence and experience in conducting information security projects involving Microsoft tools and environments.
More on Risk Manager™
Risk Manager™ identifies and evaluates organizations' main security problems and defines priorities and recommendations on how to solve them. The system has a Portuguese interface and helps companies strengthen their information security teams. Among its public are professionals from the technology, information security, auditing, risk management, compliance and legal areas. The software program conforms to international standards NBR ISO/IEC 17799, COBIT, COSO, ISO 13335 and ISO Guide 73.
Risk Manager™ 4.0 was released last June and includes several new features, an expanded knowledge base with 83 checklists, and more than 5000 security controls for risks associated with technologies, processes and people. The new version also has a Web interface using a .NET platform and automatic collectors for operating environments such as Windows 2003, XP Professional, Windows 2000 Professional and Server, as well as NT 4.0 Server.
The system allows companies to map risks and to create security indexes for each of their assets, automatically providing the technical team with detailed reports and the company's executives with charts and consolidated information based on the Risk Wizard technology. Such reports are used not only for implementation of higher levels of security and generation of evidence for regulating agencies like the Brazilian Central Bank and the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), but also for compliance with new standards and regulations such as the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, the Basel Accord II, the Brazilian Federal Law 4553 and the New Brazilian Civil Code.
Among the clients using Risk Manager™ are the Brazilian National Petroleum Agency (Agncia Nacional de Petrleo - ANP), the Rio de Janeiro State administration's Delegacia Legal police station program, Melitta do Brasil, the Pontifical Catholic University, Nossa Caixa Bank, Redisul, Cepromat, The Mato Grosso State Treasury Department, Cobra Computer Systems, the Government of the State of Maranho, the Government of the State of Esprito Santo, and others.