Situation

Senforce Technologies had a powerful product in their Endpoint Security Suite (ESS), which allowed users to mitigate risk associated with stolen or lost data on removable devices, including laptops and USB storage devices such as flash drives.

Encryption keys controlled access to data at various levels of security, depending on the user’s location—for example, inside the company LAN vs. the Wi-Fi network at the local coffee shop. 

Goal

Senforce needed to build awareness of their product and its main benefit: preventing the theft of data from portable devices. The firm needed to reach broad security and technical trade pubs, as well as industry analysts.

Solution

Strategic implemented a full range of PR tactics built around the concept of thumbsucking, a term coined by Strategic. The term refers to a thumb drive or small USB flash drive, which can be used to download or suck data from a computer—in other words, steal information. Tactics included:

• A survey conducted at the FOSE and InfoSec World trade shows, to reveal the extent of the threat posed by thumbsucking. A whopping 73% of respondents said corporate data was stored on removable devices and 56% lacked confidence in their network security policies.
• A social media component that included creation of a thumbsucking microsite to serve as a resource center on the problem, with Senforce in the background. A definition of thumbsucking was placed on Wikipedia to further validate market acceptance of the threat.
• Creation of a thumbsucking mailer, sent to key reporters at pubs ranging from the Wall Street Journal to Information Security Magazine. To demonstrate the problem, the mailer included a thumb drive that would suck the last 20 documents opened on a computer.
• Organized a media/analyst tour to define the problem and offer demos of the solution.
• Secured extensive media coverage in publications including InfoWorld, CNET, Network World, Government Computer News, CRN Red Herring, SC Magazine, eWEEK, and Government Security News.
• Secured analyst briefings with Current Analysis, IDC, Aberdeen, Frost & Sullivan, Gartner Group, Forrester, Yankee, Burton Group, and Ogren Group.
• Developed speaking abstracts and secured a slot for Senforce at the CSI tradeshow in November 2007 in Washington, DC.

Results

The thumbsucking campaign was so successful that it boosted Senforce’s valuation and attracted the interest of Novell, which acquired the company. The ESS product became part of Novell’s ZENworks’ suite.

Strategic’s work on behalf of Senforce was profiled in PR Week as an example of a creative campaign that led to a high return for the company’s shareholders.