Press Releases

HACKERS BEWARE: GUARDED NETWORKS INC. IS HERE -- NEW CYBER SECURITY FIRM LAUNCHED BY FORMER BIG 5 SPECIALISTS TAKES AIM AT LATIN AMERICAN MARKET

CONTACT: Mark Hopkinson 561/750-9800 x15
mhopkinson@transmediagroup.com

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
Ft. Lauderdale, FL., Feb. 20 2001 - Six key employees of Arthur Andersen's network security and technology risk consulting practices have departed the firm and joined forces to launch Guarded Networks Inc., delivering cutting edge IT security infrastructure, managed security services, and network security training to safeguard businesses from hackers.

In making the announcement today, Guarded Networks President Richard S. Dobrow called Guarded Networks an "amicable spin-off" and said his company has assembled a team of highly skilled system engineers, business process consultants and past practice leaders from the Big 5 accounting and consulting firms including Arthur Andersen and Pricewaterhouse Coopers.

"This venture grew out of relationships that existed between the members of Arthur Andersen's Florida/Caribbean Network Security Competence Team and the Risk Consulting Practice," Dobrow said. "In establishing the security practice for Arthur Andersen, we executed all financial projections three months ahead of schedule and along the way, identified a host of new market opportunities that we became passionate about exploring. This was the genesis of Guarded Networks Inc.," he said.

According to Dobrow, a former manager of Arthur Andersen's Technology Risk Consulting practice and a founding member of its Network Security Competence team in the Florida/Caribbean region, the relationship with Arthur Andersen has remained intact. "We can bring great value to each other as Guarded Networks pursues terrific new market opportunities to protect IT architecture from hackers and denial of service attacks here and in Latin America."

In addition to its Big 5 roots, Guarded Networks has also drawn talent from respected technology design and implementation firms such as IBM. "We've assembled a team with direct relevant experience in providing security architecture and policy development services to organizations with large complex technology infrastructures," Dobrow said.

The corporate offices, security training institute and Network Security Operations Center of Guarded Networks is under construction at Cooper City, with planned completion next month. The 6300-square-foot facility will be staffed 24-7 x 365 days a year by IT security engineers. It will house an educational facility for sales and technical training as well as two business centers serving corporate clients who need to execute professional responsibilities while undergoing management systems training.