The Forrester Wave™: Why Organizations that Require Out-of-Band Communications for Incident Response Should Consider ArmorText

We are proud to share that ArmorText has been recognized as a Leader in The Forrester Wave™: Secure Communications Solutions, Q3 2024 report, saying “ArmorText outclasses for SecOps, incident response, and threat-intel-sharing use cases.”

If You Can’t Communicate, You Can’t Remediate

As organizations grapple with increasingly sophisticated cyberattacks, the ability to respond quickly, securely, and effectively post-breach is essential for coordinating remediation efforts and a return to normal operations.

During an incident, organizations can find themselves questioning how to communicate — are day-to-day communications systems available? Are emails and messengers compromised and being monitored by attackers?

During this period (“Right of Bang”) after the detection of a security breach, delays or confusion around where and how to communicate, can handicap mitigation efforts and worsen the outcome of cyber incidents. Traditional communication systems such as emails and corporate messengers like Slack, Google, and Microsoft Teams often become liabilities.

When these primary systems are compromised, organizations face not just operational disruption but also the potential leakage of sensitive response strategies. This vulnerability underscores the necessity for robust, secure channels that operate independently of an organization’s standard infrastructure, ensuring that communication remains intact, confidential, and immune to the prying eyes of adversaries while still staying compliant.

ArmorText’s Out-of-Band Communications Advantage

Whereas traditional communication platforms can easily be compromised or rendered unreliable, ArmorText’s user+device specific end-to-end encryption (E2EE) provides a secure means of out-of-band communication that remains operational regardless of the status of standard corporate systems.

But, because you won’t always know who needs to be in the mix in advance, ArmorText provides multiple methods for out-of-band user enrollment and onboarding. This enables organizations to quickly bring essential personnel and external partners into the fold without relying on potentially compromised email systems or other standard registration workflows, which may be unusable during an incident. ArmorText ensures that critical communications are not only possible but also secure during crises.

There is a reason Forrester stated, “ArmorText’s platform is purpose-built for out-of-band collaboration,” in The Forrester Wave™: Secure Communications Solutions, Q3 2024.

Securing Sensitive Data and Communications

Too often, incident response plans, contact lists, network diagrams, org charts, and other files critical to incident response are maintained in storage and collaboration platforms like SharePoint or Google Drive that are susceptible to credential compromise and IDP attacks, as they do not by default offer always-on end-to-end encryption. ArmorText applies the same patented end-to-end encryption to files shared in ArmorText as it does to messages, helping enforce access controls that ensure only authorized users can access messages and files.

Moreover, ArmorText’s architecture is designed to keep even its administrators from being able to access clients’ and users’ communications, addressing third and fourth party risk. But even though admins aren’t able to access underlying data, retained records can still be preserved. ArmorText enables organizations to enforce a segregation of duties between its own admins and reviewers, securing audit trails against unauthorized access, including an option to require multiple parties to come together before the review of retained end-to-end encrypted archives.

This approach simultaneously enhances security and returns the balance of power back to your legal and compliance teams, restoring control to the organization over response to e-discovery requests.

Onboarding Critical Stakeholders Securely

ArmorText enables organizations to seamlessly integrate Digital Forensics and Incident Response (DFIR) teams, law enforcement, and external legal counsel into the communication flow without compromising security. Organizations can leverage pre-established Trust Relationships between their organization and key providers also on ArmorText (B2B end-to-end encrypted communications), or choose to onboard them into their own ArmorText private directory with limited provisional access.

ArmorText’s out-of-band onboarding mechanisms work for both internal and external stakeholders that need to be onboarded quickly and whose communications need to remain confidential and protected from potential cyber threats. This capability not only speeds up the response process but also maintains the integrity and confidentiality necessary for effective incident resolution.

Forrester’s Recognition of ArmorText as a Leader

Forrester’s comprehensive evaluation of secure communications solutions has positioned ArmorText as a Leader and cites how ArmorText “outclasses for SecOps, incident response, and threat-intel-sharing use cases.”

Having a reliable out-of-band communication platform like ArmorText is essential for effective incident response. ArmorText not only ensures communications continuity when standard channels fail during cyber incidents but also maintains the confidentiality and integrity necessary for managing sensitive information post-breach.