Help AG Becomes Managed Security Services Provider Partner of Microsoft in the GCC

Help AG, the cybersecurity arm of e& enterprise (formerly known as Etisalat Digital) and the region’s trusted security advisor, has been named as the Managed Security Services Provider (MSSP) Partner of Microsoft in the GCC. To mark their collaboration, Help AG and Microsoft signed a Memorandum of Understanding at the 2022 edition of Gulf Information Security Expo & Conference (GISEC), the Arab world’s largest cybersecurity event held in Dubai.

By partnering with Microsoft, Help AG will be able to provide services based on all Microsoft security products, including Microsoft Sentinel and Microsoft Defender, covering the domains of security management and identity, information, and threat protection.

Commenting on the partnership, Stephan Berner, Chief Executive Officer at Help AG, said: “We are delighted to be named the MSSP Partner of Microsoft, the global leader in software. The partnership is a testament to our position as the leading Managed Security Service Provider in the region, and our continued efforts to provide the full spectrum of tailored cybersecurity services.”

He continued: “The modern cyberthreat landscape has made it essential to adopt an all-inclusive approach that covers security, compliance, identity, management, and privacy. As a pioneer proponent of the ‘service centric approach’, Help AG has been building offerings that customers can avail “as a service” based on state-of-the-art security platforms and tools. Help AG along with Microsoft now offers the world’s most comprehensive approach to security, as a part of ‘Help AG as a Service’, including solutions such as Microsoft Sentinel, Microsoft Defender for Cloud Apps, Microsoft Defender for IoT, and Azure Active Directory Identity Protection.”

Sayed Hashish, General Manager, Microsoft UAE, said: “We are pleased to welcome Help AG as our MSSP Partner. According to research, the UAE experienced a 250% surge in cyberattacks in 2020, compared with the previous year. This included around 1.1 million phishing attacks. In the same year, almost half (49%) the country's organisations experienced a ransomware attack. By joining forces with Help AG, we are combining our world-class products and solutions with Help AG’s technical expertise and services, to offer our customers superior threat protection solutions.”

Microsoft was recently announced as a leader in the Forrester XDR Wave™: Extended Detection and Response (XDR) report, Q4, 2021. The company continues to innovate to bring the best of SIEM (Security Information and Event Management) and XDR together to empower defenders with an integrated toolset and rich security intelligence.

Help AG customers now have access to Microsoft Sentinel (formerly Azure Sentinel), the cloud native SIEM solution offering more than 100 solutions for data collection in a new content hub for easy discovery and deployment. Microsoft Sentinel will constitute a major component of Help AG’s upcoming Cloud SOC (Security Operations Center), along with offerings from other Help AG strategic vendors.

Help AG will also provide services based on Microsoft Defender for Cloud Apps, a Cloud Access Security Broker (CASB) that operates on multiple clouds; Microsoft Defender for IoT, which offers agentless network detection and response (NDR), working with diverse IoT, OT, and industrial control system (ICS) devices; and Azure Active Directory Identity Protection, which automates the detection and remediation of identity-based risks.

Incorporating Microsoft’s security solutions will expand and strengthen Help AG’s MSS offering further, which delivers flexible services combining security event management, infrastructure monitoring, and incident response either through remote or on-site response teams defined by strict SLAs.

The importance of MSSPs cannot be overstated, as many modern businesses do not have the capacity or expertise to handle vital security operations in-house. This highlights the crucial role played by MSSPs such as Help AG, which provide 24/7 monitoring and incident response, allowing organizations to focus on their core business.