Construction company augments staff with Taegis MDR for global threat intelligence-driven security with a local touch.
Managing security is an important aspect of Ali Katkhada’s job. The Group CIO of Depa Group has established the mindset that cybersecurity is the responsibility of everyone in the company, and cascades security awareness from the board of directors down to the most junior resources. Depa Group has built a strong security programme with endpoint technology, firewalls, intrusion prevention, SIEM tools, policy and procedures, and governance to ensure adherence to the company’s security priorities.
Being a public company with many regulatory compliance requirements, Katkhada said a robust security programme is mandatory. But he realised the company needed more expertise and insight into emerging threats than internal resources could provide.
“We had an extensive team of security personnel who monitored everything and sent reports to the Head of IT,” Katkhada explained. “Over time, we realised we had lost our focus. We are a construction company, not an IT company, and we shouldn’t stray from our core purpose. Instead of maintaining a large team of IT experts, we recognised that many companies could do the job better than us.”
Solution
Secureworks managed detection and response (MDR) solution, Taegis MDR, provides Depa Group with the level of security expertise and insights into the threat landscape Katkhada sought to elevate the company’s security programme. Taegis MDR delivers around-the-clock threat monitoring, detection, investigation and response fuelled by advanced analytics.
Investigations are infused with proprietary threat intelligence from the Secureworks Counter Threat Unit (CTU) research team, and findings from real-world threat hunts, incident response and security testing engagements. Taegis MDR leverages the Taegis security operations platform, which is used by the Depa Group team and the Secureworks SOC. This open platform seamlessly integrates with leading security technologies from hundreds of sources across endpoint, network, cloud, identity, OT, email and business applications.
Depa Group’s team can engage SOC analysts within 90 seconds via live chat in Taegis. Additionally, Secureworks MDR includes access to full-service incident response capabilities, one year of raw telemetry storage, and proactive monthly threat hunting.
“We don’t cut corners when it comes to security investments,” Katkhada said. “We have top-brand firewalls everywhere, even at small construction site offices. We educate our employees through regular awareness campaigns. We chose Secureworks as our cybersecurity partner because they provide comprehensive threat intelligence, which is crucial for proactive defence.”
The Cybersecurity Journey
This proactive approach, coupled with the ability to share reports and insights with executives and other stakeholders in the business, helps Katkhada meet his goal of ensuring everyone in Depa Group is aware of the importance of strong cybersecurity.
“We evaluated all of the security players in the market,” Katkhada said. “We held several meetings and evaluations, and Secureworks not only ticked all the boxes with their comprehensive solution, but they showed us two years ago their interest and attention to all the details of our requirements, including the analysis that we were looking for, and the tailored reporting that we needed for executive summaries that we present to the business with non-jargon security terms that everybody can understand.”
Katkhada has been impressed with the customer service Depa Group has received since deploying Taegis MDR, working with Secureworks resources in the region and with the global SOC team.
“With a proven track record in managing complex security environments, Secureworks brings extensive local expertise to the table,” Katkhada said. “Their international team pays close attention to our region, meets with us frequently, and listens to our feedback. This level of partnership is something you rarely find in other vendors and is very important to us.”
With Taegis MDR, Depa Group is surrounded by a team of security experts and a powerful technology platform that frees up Katkhada’s team to focus on other business objectives.
“A pillar of our security strategy is to have the right partner because we cannot do everything by ourselves,” Katkhada said. “We have the blessing to work with Secureworks.”
Gopan Sivasankaran, Sales Director, Sophos, said: “At Sophos, our mission is to become a true security partner — not just a vendor. With Taegis MDR, we empower organisations like Depa Group to stay ahead of threats through around-the-clock monitoring, global threat intelligence, and a collaborative approach that integrates seamlessly with their teams. Our commitment is to deliver not only advanced technology, but trusted expertise tailored to the specific challenges of each client.”
