Testimonials and comments from security industry veterans

Also, read feedback from end-user organizations.

“I've worked with the NSS Group for five years through more than seven tests. The NSS Group is by far the best and most professional testing organisation I have used. The tests are always fair and honest. You can really trust the results to get valuable marketing information and technical feedback.”

Paul E. Proctor, CTO

Practical Security Inc.

“We worked very closely with NSS during the testing of Top Layer's Attack Mitigator product for the NSS Intrusion Prevention System (IPS) report. We choose NSS because of their world-wide reputation as a respected independent testing lab. Being tested and approved by NSS provides a trusted third-party validation of our product's performance and reliability. Being included in The NSS Group's IPS report has put Top Layer on the short list of organizations considering implementing intrusion prevention solutions. We found that NSS put significant up-front effort into creating their test methodology and then followed up with stringent, unbiased testing. Our team found them to be knowledgeable, professional and fair.”

Mike Paquette, VP Marketing and Product Management

Top Layer Networks Inc.

“Cisco has worked with the NSS group on multiple product studies. We've found their work to be of the highest quality, with a strong degree of integrity, which clearly adds credibility to their reports. Their research and preparation is very thorough and professional, and they make a great effort to work closely with suppliers being tested for their reports. We have found significant benefit in using their reports to aid customer understanding of our technology and solutions. We believe customers can properly base their purchasing decisions on the content of these excellent reports.”

Chris Huggett, Marketing Director

Cisco EMEA

“The NSS testing process was extremely thorough and executed with utmost professionalism by their team. In fact, we were amazed at the level of skill competency and extensive lab facilities used in the testing. It is not surprising that achieving the coveted NSS Approved award instilled on us a sense of pride...and relief. We leveraged our inclusion in the extensive report to the max in our marketing material, web site and whitepapers with great results. In fact, the report is still one of the most heavily accessed whitepapers on our site.”

Maria Di Marco, Director of Marketing and Communications

netForensics, Inc.

“Stonesoft have worked with The NSS Group on several occasions and always found them to be thorough, professional and, above all, completely independent. They are highly respected in the field of security product testing and certification, and are one of very few independent labs in the world capable of evaluating complex security products effectively. We have found the resulting reports to be beneficial in our marketing efforts, helping us to highlight our strengths to potential customers.”

Tony Anscombe, Director - Northern Europe

Stonesoft Networks (UK) Ltd

“We have worked with the NSS team on a number of occasions and always found them to be professional in their approach to the testing and reporting of IDS products. It has proved beneficial to our business to be able to reference NSS as an independent view of our market, and how our products perform relative to the competition. In many cases our corporate customers have used the NSS reports, and find them invaluable in forming an opinion and subsequently an informed buying decision.”

Iain Franklin, General Manager - Europe

NAI/Entercept

“CyberGuard have found the approach to testing at NSS Labs as very professional and thorough. The test labs understanding of complex network issues and the interaction of security technologies provides a comprehensive testing environment that enables the vendor to gain an insight into the behaviour and suitability of products destined for customer environments. NSS staff are knowledgeable and provide excellent feedback to the vendor.”

Andrew Clarke, Vice President & Managing Director, EMEA

CyberGuard Worldwide 

“FSS, Inc. submitted the BizGuardian Firewall product for The NSS Group's Firewall Group Test in Q3 2002. We were very impressed with The NSS Group's professionalism and tight organisation at all stages of the test. Whilst taking a rigorous approach to the testing protocols, they were also cooperative when it was necessary for our support teams to intervene rather than “strait-jacketing” us into “this is what you submitted, this what we test, for better or worse...” as some other facilities do. The resulting report is for us a powerful marketing tool, being an independent third party validation of our technology. In a market with many competing technologies, and in which the purchasers often do not have the means to thoroughly evaluate the range of solutions on offer, The NSS Group report on the BizGuardian Firewall contributes significantly to our credibility and awareness with our prospective customers and channels.”

Victor O’Neill, FSS Inc.

“For a plain English independent review the NSS service is excellent. Specialising in network and security technologies, The NSS Group was able to deliver a superior level of service and knowledge of security systems that I have not found previously with other reviewers. The NSS Group is a highly professional and efficient organisation that works to an agreed agenda and accurate timescales. The resulting review was to the point, clear, factual and even managed to highlight some excellent feature requests that we had previously overlooked. Thanks to all at NSS for their excellent work and service.”

Paul Healy, Product Marketing Manager

AEP Systems

Feedback from End-user Organizations

“Excellent work! Thought you might like to know that we set great store by your independent testing and Approval scheme - only NSS Approved products are now considered for purchase by our company. Well done!”

Paul Frear, IT Director

Drummond Group PLC, UK

“I want to complement your organization for building and supplying the industry with a benchmark for truly measuring the claims posted by vendors regarding their firewall, IDS and IPS products. As a Managed Security Solution Provider, knowing which technologies we can trust and where the break points are is critical to our providing customers with high quality services. We consider your reports to be so important we now tell product vendors that we need an NSS benchmark report before we will consider adding them to our growing portfolio of managed services. We openly encourage your continued perseverance in shining the light on real performance and capability.”

Nicholas Brigman, VP, Product Strategy & Marketing

RedSiren, USA

“Thank you for providing such a wealth of detailed information on key security products. As a Government body we have a lengthy process to go through when procuring products such as these, and the NSS reports have helped streamline that. Any product that is not in your report is not even considered, and only those which have NSS Approved make it onto our short list.”

Anonymous, USA

“We find the reports to be an invaluable source of information when selecting products for purchase. The first IDS report formed the basis for an initial specification, the second will be used for analysis and procurement.”

Gus Macdonald, IT Security & Training Manager

Lothian National Health Service Board, UK

“I am looking forward to reading your next report, because this time we will really need this information as an unbiased reference for making buying decisions.”

Detmar Liesen, Motorland, Germany

“I find your reports immensely valuable in building solutions for my clients. Thank you!”

Tal Klein,Solutions Engineer

Cable & Wireless, USA

Richard Burman, Director Security

Cinagen, Inc., USA

“I simply want to say thank you for your excellent work in the field of security. Like most CEO’s I am not too deeply involved in security technology, but it was a pleasure to come to your site and read your clear and interesting reports. I have put the NSS Group Web site in my 'personal bookmarks', and have instructed all of my technicians to familiarise themselves with your resources and test reports before implementing any security technology.”

Ron Matta, CEO - Germany