A Strong Partnership and Right Tools Lead to Sanoma’s Reinforced Security Posture

Trust and respect often feel like rare commodities in today’s world, and the future can seem uncertain. But Sanoma, a learning and media company headquartered in Finland, is determined to thrive in the face of adversity. Information is at the very heart of their business, and with the increasing need for cybersecurity to protect their valuable assets, Sanoma turned to Nixu to get the most out of its investment in a new security solution.

In an era of continuously evolving cyber threats, Sanoma has also faced an increased level of security risks. As reported by Nixu’s Threat Intelligence team, ransomware is one of the major threats that might affect Sanoma’s business. Hence, the company knew it needed a more proactive approach to cybersecurity. Nixu was ready to meet the challenge head-on, with the goal of achieving zero cybersecurity incidents. 

Ensuring Continuity when Surrounded by Uncertainty

The COVID-19 pandemic turned the world on its head, and businesses had to adapt quickly to the new reality. Remote work has become the norm, and companies have had to rethink their security strategies to account for this new paradigm. For Sanoma, who already had people in several locations worldwide and on the move, this wasn't an entirely new situation, but the scale was unprecedented.

But it's not just the pandemic that's been causing uncertainty. Also, the threat of cyberattacks resulting from geopolitical developments affects the operations of important entities, including media companies like Sanoma. However, with ransomware remaining a constant and increasingly likely threat to organizations’ data and intellectual property, it was the most critical driving force that prompted Sanoma to enhance its cybersecurity.

It's all about Co-Creation and Trust

The key to any successful relationship is trust, especially when it comes to cybersecurity. Nixu has been working side-by-side with Sanoma for several years, building a relationship based on mutual respect, open dialogue, and a shared commitment to excellence. They've taken successful steps forward together in the field of cybersecurity, with the most recent endeavor being the modernization of Nixu's SOC service, used by Sanoma.

“The partnership with Nixu allows us to define a common vision that turns challenges into opportunities, achieving together what surpasses our individual capabilities, says Sanoma’s Chief Information Security Officer, Dimitri Goos.

Sanoma and Nixu, with support from a technology partner, worked as a unified team in every step of the transformation from reactive to proactive to ensure optimal choices for both organizations. The long-shared history based on open dialogue and trust made the transformation process smooth, and challenges were addressed in the spirit of partnership. After all, this was also a mutual learning experience, as the parties had agreed that Nixu would use this transformation as a pilot to build a scalable concept.

"The partnership with Nixu allows us to define a common vision that turns challenges into opportunities, achieving together what surpasses our individual capabilities," Dimitri Goos, Chief Information Security Officer, Sanoma

“Sanoma’s expectations on service quality and value-adding deliverables are high. This is a clear driver for Nixu to push our limits and develop our services to meet even the highest standards,” says Jesse Laamanen, Cyber Defense Center Development Lead at Nixu, and continues: “At the same time, Sanoma is cooperative and understands the mutual benefit of having a managed service for a large number of clients rather than a tailored service for one specific case. As a result, Nixu can offer scalable, high-quality services at a price point that can never be achieved with custom solutions. We have already found the next joint development journey, and I’m glad we’re taking on another challenge so soon.”

A Valuable Difference

The proactive Nixu 24/7 SOC not only monitors and detects threats and responds to them but also, based on increased intelligence, suggests concrete changes to reduce the attack surface of Sanoma. The tooling has considerably lowered the mean time from detection to resolution. When coupled with Nixu’s Continuous Security Posture Management service, stats show a significant increase in true positive ratio compared to a traditional log-based detection and response service, improving the overall security posture.  

Therefore, the benefits to Sanoma are meeting and exceeding the company’s goals for improved transparency, resiliency, and agility.

Building a Resilient Future with Peace of Mind

With the purpose of making cyberspace a secure place, Nixu helps organizations ensure business resilience with peace of mind. To support this ambition, Nixu has developed an exceptional SOC operating model using cutting-edge security tools with advanced capabilities. This allows Nixu to provide mature managed services for Sanoma but also to other clients. Nixu also invests in developing similar concepts for Application Security, OT, and IoT security. By doing so, Nixu is staying ahead of the curve and ensuring it is equipped to tackle any future cybersecurity threats with its scalable tools.

Sanoma understands the importance of staying ahead of the curve as well. Its mission is to create better understanding for people, communities, and businesses to evolve and thrive. Sanoma knows that in today's digital age, cybersecurity is a critical component of that evolution. 

The strong collaboration between Sanoma and Nixu demonstrates the importance of trust and co-creation in enabling resilient, secure, and effective digital business.