The recent Equifax breach is just another example of a cyberattack on a financial institution that made headline news. The CEO was ousted almost immediately, the financial impact to the company will be staggering, and their reputation has been severely damaged. While Equifax is just the latest example of a high profile breach, attacks on SMB and mid-market companies are at an all–time high. But the consequences are usually more severe…smaller companies will go out of business.

When these events happen, your customers will look to you for guidance as thought leaders within the security space. Fortunately, if you’re an Ingram Micro reseller, then you can take advantage of our security practice which is the best in the business. With our market-leading portfolio, dedicated resources, and our Professional & Training Services – we have the right solutions and services to help you reach trusted security advisor status. And with October’s National Cyber Security Awareness Month still fresh in your customers’ minds, there is no better time to discuss these offerings with them.

Did you know that over 11,000 U.S. solution providers purchased security technologies from us in 2016, and that it is one of the highest growing categories in the business? This provides you with a great opportunity to drive security sales with penetrations tests, wireless network assessments, and ransomware preparedness tests. Below you’ll find good probing questions and actions to take to keep your customers in the financial sector safe.

Business Plan

An important first step to any Security business plan is to offer your customer a vulnerability assessment from the Ingram Micro Professional Services team. Completing a vulnerability scan will ensure that you are offering your customer the best solutions to fit their security needs. A vulnerability scan can help an organization to identify vulnerabilities within their network, configuration and compliance issues, and malware. Once completed the services team will provide a comprehensive report on their findings. This report will contain the types of vulnerabilities that were found, and will offer recommendations as to how to remediate them in order to keep out today’s modern threats and attacks. To get started contact our professional services team at 800-456-8000 (ext 76094) or proservices@ingrammicro.com After the assessment is complete you can access Ingram Micro’s vast amount of security hardware, software and services. We offer the latest gateway & network security products, data and endpoint protection services, physical security products, and compliance tools. Added to this is Ingram Micro’s best-in-the-industry tech support to ensure a configuration that will work with your client’s current hardware and software solutions.

General Questions

1. What types of external threats are you currently facing? Malware, ransomware, viruses, internal or external theft?
2. Do you currently have a strategy built around security?
3. Are you currently prepared to prevent an attack?
4. If attacked, how would you respond?
5. Do you have a disaster recovery plan in place?
6. Are you required by law to comply with specific rules and regulations—e.g., HIPAA, PCI, CIPA, SEC?
7. Do you allow employees to use their own devices?
   • If so, do you have a plan in place to wipe their devices in case of loss or theft?
8. Are you interested in using a cloud-based or on-premise product?
9. Are you in need of an assessment service to determine security gaps?
10. How many locations do you need to secure?

Finance Questions

1. Are your vendor risk management reviews telling you holes exist with the security of your nonpublic data?
2. Are your business units looking for specific technologies to address recent MRIAs, MRAs or Tier 1 audit items in the next 12–18 months?
3. Are you frustrated with your current products to share information with your internal sales teams?
4. Is the process you’re using today to manage document version control working to satisfy your regulators—e.g., SEC rule 17a3 and 17a4?
5. Are you looking for a better way to do secure messaging and large file transfer?
6. Are you concerned about the security of your mobile devices?
7. When will you be reviewing your gateway protection, and what vendors are you using today?
8. Have you adopted BYOD or is this something you are looking to adopt?

Additional resources and collateral around Ingram Micro’s award winning security practice can be found here:

https://usa.ingrammicro.com/c/solutions-itsecurity-home.aspx

http://www.ingrammicroadvisor.com/security

The timing has never been better to have a security discussion with your customers. Capitalize on the strength of Ingram Micro’s comprehensive security practice to go out and dominate the competition.