2022 was a big year for Difenda. Not only for our team but for our partners and customers who put their trust in us to protect their businesses.
At every step of the way, we ensure that the needs of our customers are heard and we always deliver. We architect, deploy and deliver Microsoft Security tools through our Microsoft expertise to help your team maximize your investment and license usage. We deliver on our promise of optimal security outcomes, even if this means architecting security environments that have never been done before.
We’ve pushed hard this year and succeeded in so many different ways.
Microsoft & Difenda: Better Together
At Difenda, everything we do is powered by Microsoft. As a testament to our cybersecurity-first, Microsoft-only approach, we went the extra mile to deepening our Microsoft partnership with new accomplishments and a few firsts.
At the end of last year, Difenda became a member of the Microsoft Intelligent Security Association (MISA), an ecosystem of independent software vendors and managed security partners, that have integrated their security products and services with Microsoft to better defend against a world of increasing threats.
As a member of MISA, Difenda has been able to deepen its existing relationship with Microsoft through preview product access and input, streamlined integrations, and co-marketing opportunities throughout 2022.
Being a Microsoft Security partner allows us to help our customers achieve better outcomes and customize their environments. When looking for new ways to protect and monitor the security of our customers’ IP and data you want to know who the reliable partners are for your security services. This means looking for focused knowledge, extensive experience, and proven success at delivering outcome-driven customer solutions.
For Difenda, committing to cybersecurity excellence and Microsoft expertise means continuing to improve our team by constantly upskilling our technical team members, validating our performance through external sources, and demonstrating our growth within Microsoft security to remain a trusted security partner.
It is imperative that we exceed industry standards and are credentialed where it matters most. This year Difenda earned two Microsoft security Specializations in Threat protection and Cloud Security. These specializations prove that we are committed to advancing our security expertise in order to provide the best services for our customers in partnership with Microsoft.
The First Microsoft MSSP to Have 9 Offers on Microsoft Azure Marketplace
It was clear that to change the game we needed to go beyond Managed Extended Detection and Response to transform security operations with End-to-End Microsoft Security solutions.
Ending the year on a high, Difenda is the first Microsoft MSSP to have 9 offers on Microsoft Azure Marketplace. These 9 service offers cover all Microsoft Security Solutions and enable customers to do more with their Microsoft license capabilities and drive ROI by maximizing their investment at any stage of their cybersecurity journey.
Difenda’s current Marketplace offerings include:
Managed Services
Innovative Product Launches
Our technical team has been working diligently to create better outcomes for our customers. Throughout this process, we have been able to architect new products that are now available on the Microsoft Azure Marketplace.
In 2022, we looked into the Operational Technology used by critical infrastructure companies that collect, share and store data both within and outside the business. It turned out that not only are these environments dangerously insecure, but the companies that have them aren’t even aware of the assets available to them. We responded by giving customers the technology they need to gain visibility into their OT environments and then protect it from on-coming threats to mitigate the risk of a data breach.
Powered by Microsoft Defender for IoT, Difenda MDR for OT offers Unified Threat Protection For All Your IoT/OT Devices.
Download the MDR for OT eBook to learn more about the offer.
We won big in Microsoft professional services this year. After years of hearing customers struggle with deploying everything their Microsoft Security licenses have to offer, Difenda now offers professional services that can meet our customers where they are on their security journey. From the End-to-End Microsoft Security Roadmap to Microsoft Purview IP&G, Difenda has taken the time to curate solutions for our customer’s biggest security challenges.
Resources to Level-Up
In our quest to help our customers do more with less, we have published 3 new resources to help you get the most out of Microsoft Security:
Providing More Value with the Build Partner Program
Early this year our team launched our Channel Partner Program: Difenda Build.
Partners can now sell Difenda Shield powered by Microsoft directly or as a white-label offering. The program’s flexible engagement model allows the partner to customize the program in alignment with their business goals.
Since the launch of the Build Partner Program, we have doubled the number of partners we are working with and can provide even greater value for our customers.
Expanding Difenda’s offering through partner channels allows us to continuously meet the needs of customers’ evolving security requirements. We’re committed to making the service available to the broadest base of resellers possible through Difenda’s channel-led growth focus because we want every business to maximize the value of their Microsoft investment.
Difenda In The News
In response to our continued growth and the increased innovation within the Microsoft Security space, we were asked to speak on behalf of our growth and broader industry trends throughout the year.
Some familiar faces popped up in Cyber Defense Magazine and CyberNews this year including our Director of Strategic Partnerships, Juliana Zaremba and VP of Revenue, Derek Nugent.
Game-Changing Webinars for Customer Success
For the first time ever our team dove into the webinar space to create exciting new educational content for our customers and the broader security community. From overcoming challenges in your industry of choice to getting hands-on experience with Microsoft KQL, the Difenda team truly stepped up to provide new, valuable resources to help you succeed in cybersecurity.
Check out our top three webinars from 2022:
Curating An Expert Team
At the heart of Difenda is our team. This year, we nearly doubled in size not only to support our growth but to expand on what was possible from development to delivery.
We pushed the envelope in every department and were able to:
- Increase our workforce by 47%,
- Expand the delivery team by 30% alone, and
- Onboard 50% of our customers to Managed Services.
But that’s not all. Throughout the year, were able to challenge the typical male-dominated industry of cybersecurity.
Despite many challenges over the past few years, women’s representation has improved across all levels of the corporate pipeline and in almost every industry. But there are still persistent gaps. According to a report by (ISC)² women account for only 24% of the overall workforce in the cybersecurity industry. At Difenda we are actively working to close this gap.
We are proud to say that women make up 34% of Difenda’s workforce. But that’s not all:
- 20% of Difenda’s C3 Team, is women,
- 60% of the Revenue Operations Leadership Team is women, and
- 20% of the Service Operations Leadership Team is women.
Read more about how Difenda is Going Beyond Recruitment, Promotion And Training when it comes to gender diversity in Cybersecurity.
Awards and Recognition
With development and execution in full force, we weren’t the only ones to be excited about the amazing team we put together. This year were honoured with multiple security excellence and Great Place to Work awards.
We owe our success to the initiatives that helped us not only gain industry awareness and establish Difenda as a security leader but also by continually up-skilling our team were able to create innovative solutions to today’s most challenging security issues. Through outcome-driven services and technical skills, our close-knit team was recognized by many of the leading security award organizations.
We are thrilled at what our team has been able to achieve and we will continue to change the game with new and innovative solutions in the coming year.
Building Momentum to Accelerate Growth in 2023
Looking back, it’s incredible what we have been able to accomplish together. Our primary goal is to introduce tools and features that can create better security outcomes to inform business decisions, without dictating where your data is stored, or locking you into a contract with services you will never use. As we continue to expand and take on new projects, we hope to build on this momentum and continue to protect our customer’s businesses with industry-leading cybersecurity technology and expertise.
Thank you for helping us achieve these amazing moments this year. We can’t wait to see what we can accomplish together in 2023.
