Red Siren Offers Unlimited Access to Security Courses

Pure-play security firm introduces new enterprise-wide licensing for corporate education programs.

• By Matt Migliore
• 10/23/2002

Last week the company introduced a new enterprise-wide licensing structure for the entire course catalog under its InfoSecU security education initiative. The new program will be offered in addition to Red Siren's existing Quick Start package and customized programs. It's designed to beef up security know-how throughout the corporation.

"InfoSecU can be used in a number of different ways," says Al Leary, senior vice president of marketing for Red Siren. "We have 100- to 200-level courses around a variety of technologies." And, he says, there are higher-level courses for security specialists.

As part of its enterprise license, Red Siren gives companies unlimited access to the InfoSecU courseware. The license includes free upgrades to current courses as well as access to new courses published throughout the year. For an additional fee, companies can purchase Red Siren's Learning Management System to run the courses. If a company already has an LMS in place, courses can be presented on existing software.

Currently, InfoSecU's curriculum has a four-tier structure: basic security; security essentials for human resources; security essentials for managers; and content-based courses for security professionals.

According to Leary, Red Siren is in "serious" discussions with several Fortune 500 companies about the enterprise license. He says the InfoSecU program has in the past been a key selling point for Red Siren's other security services, which include benchmarking, vulnerability assessment, managed authentication, forensics, and managed intrusion detection.

However, Leary says, InfoSecU is not just a complementary offering, but functions as a stand-alone entity. In total, InfoSecU is comprised of 27 independent network security courses, which are developed primarily by security experts on staff at Red Siren.

Red Siren believes recent demands by the U.S. government for better IT security in the business world will be reflected in a spike in licenses for InfoSecU. Leary says even before September 11 the government had begun to pressure certain industries to employ more robust security practices. For example, he says, the security requirements under HIPAA have forced healthcare organizations to bolster protective measures for IT.

Allan Carey, a program manager for information security services with IT analyst firm IDC, says Red Siren will not be without competition in its attempts to sell on the demand for security knowledge. He says many pure-play security service providers are now offering courses in addition to their traditional solution set. He cites EDS, Foundstone Inc. and CFC as companies that also offer some sort of educational services to companies, and says they must be getting some traction in that area, "otherwise they wouldn't be offering courses."

In general, Carey says the trend toward education services among security providers is growing. However, he says it's too early to tell if these services are generating widespread appeal in the enterprise space.

InfoSecU was launched in September 2000 by a company named AtomicTangerine, which Red Siren acquired in November of 2001.