Are you getting ready for the upcoming Black Hat USA 2024 event, an internationally recognized cybersecurity event providing the most technical and relevant information security research, now in its 27th year.  The event is quickly approaching, taking place August 3-8, 2024, returning to the Mandalay Bay Convention Center in Las Vegas, NV with a 6-day program. 

Ahead of the show, VMblog received an exclusive interview with Ashley Leonard, CEO and Founder at Syxsense, a global leader in automated endpoint and vulnerability management.  Make sure to add them to your MUST SEE list.

VMblog: Before we get into it, can you give us a quick overview of the company?  What should folks know?

Ashley Leonard:  Syxsense gives IT and Security Operations teams visibility and control over their infrastructure through automated endpoint and vulnerability management solutions.

With a no-code/low-code automation and orchestration engine, Syxsense's autonomous endpoint capabilities can find and fix IT and security risks - from identifying missing patches, open ports, or misconfigurations to remediating any issues with the click of a button.

Syxsense's vulnerability management goes beyond a giant Excel list of issues. From built-in scanning and risk scoring that includes the impact and breadth of that vulnerability across your infrastructure to pre-built remediations, Syxsense provides actionable insights that help IT and SecOps staff easily prioritize next steps while reducing the attack surface.

VMblog:  Black Hat is known for its energetic and interactive booths. What unique experiences or demonstrations do you have planned to engage attendees at your booth? What will you be showing off at the show this year?

Leonard:  The Syxsense booth will give attendees the opportunity to see firsthand how automation can revolutionize their approach to security. Visitors can explore and interact with the Syxsense platform through a self-guided demo as well as engage with our experts to discuss the latest product updates and features.

Syxsense staff will also be showcasing recent integrations and partnerships, including Absolute Application Persistence-as-a-Service^TM (APaaS), which enables joint customers to ensure continuous integrity of endpoint applications used to defend endpoints against cyber disruptions and attacks, and our growing set of PSA integrations for MSPs and MSSPs, enabling them to open, manage, and close tickets and capture billing details on IT and security actions quickly and easily.

VMblog: Is this your first time sponsoring Black Hat?  If not, how many times have you sponsored before?  And, what keeps you coming back?

Leonard:  Syxsense has been a proud sponsor of Black Hat for the last three years. We continue to come back because the interactions and conversations our staff have with Black Hat attendees are fruitful and enlightening. Syxsense is built by IT and security leaders for IT and security teams and hearing directly from people who use or could use Syxsense about their challenges, how they wish technology would work for them, and what they view as success is simply invaluable.

VMblog:  What is your message to Black Hat attendees coming out to the show this year? If they take back one message about your company, what should it be?

Leonard:  If there's one thing we want Black Hat attendees to remember about us, it's that Syxsense can revolutionize their endpoint and vulnerability management programs with our cloud-native automation and orchestration engine.

Syxsense automates time-consuming tasks like patching, configuration management, and vulnerability scanning and remediation, giving you back valuable hours in your day. And for those with robust compliance requirements, Syxsense simplifies that process by automating reporting and continually ensuring your systems meet regulatory standards or industry requirements.

VMblog:  Black Hat attendees are known for being security professionals at the forefront of the industry. What specific challenges do you anticipate they'll be facing, and how will your solutions help them overcome those challenges?

Leonard:  Black Hat usually highlights new techniques or vulnerabilities, especially when looking at the briefing sessions. But it would be silly to go into Black Hat without acknowledging the stress and difficulties IT and security staff have been under recently, from the CrowdStrike faulty update to Microsoft's DDOS attack (https://www.darkreading.com/cloud-security/microsoft-azure-ddos-attack-amplified-cyber-defense-error).

When you dig into the CrowdStrike and Microsoft outages, it seems like the security policies in place ultimately contributed to the downtime. Unfortunately, this perception coupled with the fact that IT and security teams are under immense pressure to figure out how to fix things quickly only deepens the anxiety that many IT and security professionals face daily.

While Black Hat attendees will learn about the latest vulnerabilities and zero-days, there is no doubt they will be asking questions about maintaining both cyber and operational resilience - finding the right balance between security and operations. This isn't a one-and-done process; it takes a consistent, strategic review of the security program, IT infrastructure, and business operations.

Syxsense can help attendees that are seeking to gain more time in their day. By automating time-consuming tasks like patching, configuration management, and vulnerability scanning and remediation, Syxsense frees up your IT and security teams to focus on strategic initiatives. Even more, Syxsense's unified platform encourages your IT, security, risk and compliance teams to coordinate and collaborate from a single source of truth - real-time device data from the endpoint.

VMblog:  What are some of the key takeaways of your solution that Black Hat attendees should be aware of? 

Leonard:  Syxsense protects organizations from cyber-attacks by proactively minimizing your attack surface. Syxsense develops automated solutions for managing, securing and remediating vulnerabilities and security risks across your IT infrastructure. With Syxsense's intuitive no-code orchestration engine, IT and SecOps staff can quickly find and fix IT and security issues, making it easier to manage and monitor endpoints to streamline operations and security.

VMblog:  The market is a crowded space.  What is it about your company and technology that sets you apart from the competition?  What are your differentiators?

Leonard:  Syxsense was the first cloud-native endpoint and vulnerability management solution on the market and the first to offer a true no-code/low-code automation and orchestration engine that can take action on critical insights. Third-party research analysts have consistently reviewed Syxsense as outperforming competitors across patch, endpoint, and vulnerability management.

At the end of the day, Syxsense does what it says it will do: it will find your IT and security risks - from missing patches to weak passwords and open ports - and help you fix those issues, oftentimes with a simple click of a button to action one of our pre-built remediation playbooks.

VMblog:  Beyond your specific offerings, what valuable cybersecurity knowledge or insights can you share with Black Hat attendees visiting your booth?

Leonard:  We are excited to share new research on proactive security, conducted by Omdia analysts, as well as our latest guide to enterprise endpoint management with attendees. Stop by for free copies of both reports!

VMblog:  Is your company giving away any interesting tchotchke at your booth?  What is it?

Leonard:  We're excited to offer Syxsense baseball hats and Hacker Summer Camp "survival kits" packed with everything you need to make the most of Black Hat. Plus, swing by the Syxsense booth #4434 for a demo, and you might just be the lucky winner of an 8-bottle set of Blanton's Bourbon!

VMblog:  As a show sponsor, do you have any tips for attendees to better prepare for the conference?

Leonard:  Hydrate, hydrate, hydrate! And make sure to have snacks with you. The show is big and goes on all day. Don't forget to take care of yourself. For those who need hydration or a quick snack, Syxsense will have Hacker Summer Camp "survival kits," with LiquidIV, energy bars and more. Stop by our booth #4434 to grab one!

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