Feb 22, 2012, 1:00pm

nCircle, the leader in automated security and compliance auditing solutions, today announced a new, strategic partnership with Sword & Shield Enterprise Security. Under the new agreement, Sword & Shield Enterprise Security will resell nCircle’s PureCloud™ in combination with their unique Risk Calculator to bring comprehensive network security and risk assessment to small and mid-sized businesses.

Sword & Shield’s comprehensive Risk Calculator for small and mid-size companies contains questions concerning information security policies including:

• Desktop/laptop deployment of anti-malware, anti-spyware protection and encryption
• Use of wireless technology
• Disposal of devices containing sensitive information
• Protecting sensitive information sent in emails
• Remote access/password management
• Employee security awareness training
• Incident and data breach response
• Disaster backup and recovery abilities

PureCloud combines the same advanced technology employed in nCircle's award-winning enterprise technology with a unique, easy-to-use scanning service. PureCloud requires no software or hardware, and no changes to firewalls— costly and time-intensive obstacles for most businesses without a full-time IT security staff. Using just a web browser, customers can scan their networks to discover security risk on all devices located both behind the firewall and on their internet-facing perimeter.

“A comprehensive security risk assessment is a requirement for many who must comply with HIPAA, PCI, GLBA, SOX, but there are a host of businesses not subject to these regulations who need to understand the risks associated with protecting valuable business assets,” says Sword & Shield president and CEO John McNeely. “A risk assessment helps prioritize actions to reduce the risk factors. By combining the PureCloud vulnerability scanning with our Risk Calculator, we have eliminated the need to travel to a customer location to interview and install scanning equipment, automatically reducing time and expense, resulting in lower prices for our customers.”

“Small and medium-sized businesses are increasingly targeted as low-hanging fruit by cyber criminals because they struggle with an increasing compliance burden yet lack the resources and expertise to adequately invest in security,” said Ed Colonna, vice president of SaaS business development for nCircle. “We are very excited by our partnership with Sword & Shield because our innovative PureCloud technology combined with their deep security and compliance expertise will help small businesses improve their security.”

About Sword & Shield Enterprise Security

While some companies offer web and network security services as an add-on to their financial auditing or IT consulting practices, with Sword & Shield, security is our core business. Founded in 1997 Sword & Shield provides web application and network security assessments, security risk and compliance services, forensic and eDiscovery services along with best-of-breed security products.

Sword & Shield’s success is driven by clients who desire a partnership with Sword & Shield in securing and protecting sensitive information entrusted to them by their clients. With a highly trained professional staff, Sword & Shield has extensive experience supporting corporate IT environments, law enforcement agencies, attorneys and mission-critical federal systems.

Our customers come from all industries such as financial/banking, healthcare, federal government (NASA SEWP III and NASA SEWP IV), law enforcement, the legal community, telecommunications, hospitality, utilities and manufacturing. We work with customers in the United States and abroad, either on-site, over the Internet, or by telephone.

About nCircle

nCircle is the leading provider of automated security and compliance auditing solutions. More than 5,500 enterprises, government agencies and service providers around the world rely on nCircle's proactive solutions to manage and reduce security risk and achieve compliance on their networks. nCircle has won numerous awards for growth, innovation, customer satisfaction and technology leadership and has been ranked among the top 100 best places to work in the San Francisco Bay Area. nCircle is headquartered in San Francisco, CA, with regional offices throughout the United States and in London and Toronto. Additional information about nCircle is available at www.ncircle.com.

nCircle is a registered trademark of nCircle Network Security, Inc. All other registered or unregistered trademarks are the sole property of their respective owners.