On the Alert
Almost immediately after installation, Huntress was churning out invaluable intel on Greystone’s clients.
“Straight away, we had a few minor incidents with open ports on customer managed firewalls that Huntress managed to detect and prompt us to shut down,” says McDougall. “The most recent and worrying involved a machine that one of our clients had taken home with them during the pandemic, when everyone had switched to working remotely.
“It should have been retired but they had fired it up to use personally. When it popped back online, Huntress did a scan and picked up a selection of potentially unwanted software on there.
“The incident really highlighted two things for us: one, there was a device being used that should have been sent back to head office and retired; and two, the software could have led to a serious incident, or possibly a breach. Thanks to Huntress, we were able to isolate that endpoint and protect the client.”
It was all the proof McDougall and the team needed: Huntress was an essential tool. With cyber threats never too far away, Greystone needed to stay on top of any suspect activity.
“If we have a new customer, we’ll now deploy Huntress as a matter of course as we’re onboarding,” McDougall explains. “From there, we’ll go back to the client and present them with anything unusual Huntress might have found, no matter how harmless or inconsequential it seems, and remediate right away. We want to know what we’re walking into and for them as a customer in the process of joining, they obviously want to be secure. It catches those early signs of vulnerability.”
And for Greystone’s longer-standing clients? It’s a non-negotiable.
“We run a short trial for a month, free of charge, for existing customers, just to see what it dredges up,” says McDougall. “Then, we have a sit-down with the client to show them the reports. It’s illuminating. As yet, no one has taken a look at those reports and decided they didn’t want Huntress. Everyone has seen how valuable it is and how much they need it.
“A huge part of that comes from the fact that the reports are so concise and easy to understand, no matter your level of expertise. Even our more junior members of staff can read and digest Huntress’ reports and carry out the remediation themselves.”