Ascent Solutions

As a values-driven organization, Ascent emphasizes a supportive and empathetic culture, aiming to let team members bring their full selves to work while solving complex security problems. The company positions itself as a partner that is as committed to the security of clients' people and businesses as those clients are themselves.

Ascent is also an award-winning, nationally recognized Microsoft Solutions Partner with multiple specializations. The company focuses on helping customers maximize their investment in the Microsoft security ecosystem while aligning cybersecurity initiatives with business objectives.

Ascent's Advisory Services aim to remove fear, uncertainty, and doubt around cyber risk by replacing assumptions with measurable data. The team helps clients build a business case and rationale for cybersecurity and technology investments so leaders can understand and support the strategy.

Key Advisory Offerings

• Responsible AI
• Focuses on building a secure foundation for success with Microsoft Copilot and other AI capabilities.
• Strengthens data, identity, and device policies, procedures, and governance standards so organizations can pursue productivity gains while managing risk.

• Security Gap Analysis
• Identifies and prioritizes security gaps specific to each client.
• Maps factors such as firm size, economic incentives, geographic location, and industry against the threats most probable to that organization.
• Produces a data-rationalized plan and prioritized roadmap to close gaps and improve the security posture.

• Business Change Enablement
• Supports organizations as they adopt and roll out new technologies.
• Designs user training and communication plans across time zones, languages, and cultures.
• Helps ensure that employees feel confident and equipped during and after technology transitions, improving adoption and outcomes.

These advisory services are designed to align cybersecurity initiatives with broader business goals and to provide leaders with clear, quantifiable justification for security-related decisions.

Ascent Solutions is a full-service Microsoft Security Solutions partner focused on helping organizations modernize and strengthen their cyber defenses using the Microsoft security stack.

Practice Areas

Ascent's cybersecurity services are organized into three primary practice areas:

• Threat Protection
• Advises clients on the cyber risks most relevant to their industry and business.
• Deploys and tailors Microsoft Sentinel and the Microsoft Defender suite to help detect, investigate, and respond to threats.
• Focuses on raising the level of effort required for threat actors to extort, disrupt, or steal from the business.

• Data Security
• Designs and implements secure foundations for artificial intelligence and data-centric initiatives.
• Builds infrastructure for managing data across single- or multi-cloud environments.
• Architects Microsoft Purview so sensitive data can be discovered, classified, and governed.

• Identity Management
• Applies Zero Trust best practices across on-premises and cloud environments.
• Designs and configures Microsoft Entra solutions to manage identities and access from a single interface.
• Helps organizations monitor and control access across users, devices, and locations.

Across these practice areas, Ascent designs and optimizes Microsoft security tools so that organizations are not only reacting to threats but continually moving toward a more resilient security posture.

Ascent Solutions provides managed security and exposure management services that help organizations align security investments with the risks that matter most to their business.

Approach to Managed Security

Ascent emphasizes that spending more on tools does not automatically guarantee better security. Instead, the firm helps organizations:

• Assess broad business risks, including how cyber incidents could affect revenue and operations.
• Understand how governance, regulation, and compliance (GRC) requirements relate to cybersecurity.
• Prioritize controls and processes rather than relying solely on additional tools.

Risk Assessment and Prioritization

Ascent supports organizations in:

• Ranking cyber risks by severity and potential business impact.
• Developing tailored threat profiles and heat maps that consider industry, size, geographic location, and other factors.
• Identifying where process or architectural changes (such as network segmentation) can reduce risk.

Cyber Metrics and Reporting

For organizations already using tools such as SIEM or endpoint management platforms, Ascent helps:

• Gather and interpret technical data so it can be communicated in business terms.
• Quantify factors like the number of endpoints under approved controls, exceptions to policy, and incidents tied to those exceptions.
• Use these metrics to support strategy, budgeting, and stakeholder communication.

Security Operations Center (SOC) and Exposure Management

Ascent operates a modern Security Operations Center (SOC) with analysts available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year. The SOC team:

• Monitors client environments for vulnerabilities and threats.
• Provides threat intelligence and custom alerting.
• Guides client security teams on recommended responses when exposures cannot be immediately remediated.

Ascent's portfolio of exposure management services can be tailored to specific risks or provided as a broader, ongoing service depending on an organization's needs and maturity.

323 Washington Ave N Suite 410 Minneapolis, MN 55401 United States

Contact Details

• Phone: 612.439.9608
• Email: info@meetascent.com

For general inquiries, including information about cybersecurity services, advisory engagements, or managed security offerings, organizations can contact Ascent using the phone number or email address above.

Ascent's cybersecurity and advisory consultants help organizations:

• Understand their current security maturity and risk profile.
• Build a justified business case for modernizing with Microsoft security technology.
• Develop a concrete plan for ongoing cybersecurity strategy and improvement.

Each engagement is intended to leave clients with clear next steps, aligned with both technical requirements and business priorities.

Zero Trust Launchpad

Ascent's Zero Trust Launchpad is designed for organizations whose Zero Trust journey is just beginning or has stalled. The service focuses on:

• Identifying quick wins that security teams can present to leadership.
• Mapping next steps to strengthen protections across:
• Data
• Identity
• Devices
• Applications
• Networks

By focusing on practical, achievable improvements, the Zero Trust Launchpad helps organizations mature their cybersecurity programs and demonstrate progress in a way stakeholders can understand.

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