In-Reply-To: <200411022202.44012.ripper@internode.on.net>
Hi Aaron Drew,
The essence of security is about trust, reliability, and the peace of mind.
Investing in security of the system is like buying your life insurance. Would
you buy insurance from a small company via a cheap agent?
Penetration testing is a broad field, do you plan to specialize in one
particular technology? For instance, another thread in this discussion group
is talking about VoIP penetration test, VoIP security is certainly a very
interested technology to focus on.
In the IT field, your professional reputation becomes your competitive edge.
What I am doing to increase my professional reputation is to prepare white
papers and (hopefully), one day you will see me as a speaker in BlackHat
Briefings. Then, companies will hire your company to do penetration testing
for them.
Good luck Aaron!
Thanks for all the great responses. From the responses I've received it is now
painstakingly obvious that I need to start with the small fish and offer
fairly simple services (basic vuln-testing/pen-testing). I should probably
have elaborated a little more however on my question.
The area I am most stuck on is *how* to approach potential customers.
Networking is good and well once a foot is in the door but how have
individuals as yourselves achieved that big 'first break'? Cold calling? Door
to door? Stumbling onto a vulnerable system and throwing the evidence in
their face? The much-condoned scare tactic method?
I've tried suiting up and walking into businesses offering a free test of
their network. I've tried calling businesses that I *know* have wide-open
wireless networks and explaining that anyone could read their emails. So far,
all of them have shown no interest - even when I've pointed out what data I
could conceivable capture given enough time. Do I really need to go in there
with something like an email sent from the owner to his wife?
I'm certain I could do a good job for cheap - even if a little unrefined in my
initial procedures. I am just lost as to how to convince a market that
doesn't *want* to see that they need security services.
On Fri, 29 Oct 2004 12:38 am, Randy Golly wrote:
CORRECTION - Scare Tactics are NOT the way to do it ... lost the Not in
editing ...
Thanks,
Randy Golly
-----Original Message-----
From: Randy Golly [mailto:rcgolly@vermeertexas.com]
Sent: Tuesday, October 26, 2004 10:02 PM
To: Jeff Gercken; Aaron Drew; pen-test@securityfocus.com
Subject: RE: The business/marketing of pen-testing.
Agree with Jeff's statements, you need to validate why someone needs your
service. Scare tactics are the way to do it. If business's in your area
are not being approached with this service yet, they need to be educated on
why they need this done in the first place. If they are educated on what
vulnerabilities are actually out there and how it could affect their
business operations, then they will come to the right conclusions about why
they need to secure their systems. Needs to come down to basic dollars and
cents, not just theoretical BS, on how it could affect their productivity
or customer satisfaction. If the business is big, they have been in the
pen test loop and are looking at SOX compliance so need it. Smaller
business don't need to stick within compliance regulations so do not have
the need as much. But that is where you can come in to show why they need
your services.
Good luck ... Randy
-----Original Message-----
From: Jeff Gercken [mailto:JeffG@kizan.com]
Sent: Tuesday, October 26, 2004 1:52 PM
To: Aaron Drew; pen-test@securityfocus.com
Subject: RE: The business/marketing of pen-testing.
Don't use scare tactics. Salesmen prophesizing scenarios of impending
doom and catastrophic failures have really hurt the security industry.
Rational and quantitative risk analysis is what businesses need.
Everyone has vulnerabilities and most know it. You should position
yourself as the guy who will enumerate them and assign priority.
Also, if you are asked, be open in your methods and tools. Be part
teacher and you will be rewarded with trust and loyalty.
Anyhow, just my $.02
-Jeff
-----Original Message-----
From: Aaron Drew [mailto:ripper@internode.on.net]
Sent: Sunday, October 24, 2004 6:20 PM
To: pen-test@securityfocus.com
Subject: The business/marketing of pen-testing.
I've had an interest in computer security for some time and I'm now
looking at
starting a business around it. There are *no* other such businesses in
my
area but because of this, I'm not sure how to sell my services to
potential
customers or even what my target market should be (small, medium, or big
business).
Anyone have any suggestions as to where I could start looking for
information
on this side of things?
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- Aaron
"Today's mighty oak is just yesterday's nut that held its ground."
