2023 was a year full of successes and, above all, team spirit for TEAL. As an IT security company, we not only focus on the security of our customers, but also on the well-being of our own team. In this year in review, we would like to look back at some of the events and progress that have made TEAL an even stronger partner for your security needs.

Team spirit and growth

As usual, the year began promptly with the first team event in Hamburg. A total of four team events in the cities of Düsseldorf, Hamburg and Frankfurt not only gave us the opportunity to work on internal topics and customer projects, but also to grow together away from the office. Whether in an escape room in Frankfurt, a visit to the Miniaturwunderland in Hamburg or a cosy dinner in various restaurants.

In this eventful year, our three awesome trainees: Jana, Nils and Tobias, who have been part of Teal since March, have completed extensive training and practical experience. Together, they completed intensive Microsoft training courses and extensive soft skills workshops, strengthening their technical and interpersonal skills in equal measure. Jana also immersed herself in our demanding Teal Security Assessment, where she was responsible for the implementation and evaluation.

Nils and Tobias support our consultants in their current customer projects. They can use the knowledge they have acquired in the Microsoft training course to develop customised solutions for our customers. In addition, all three trainees were familiarised in detail with Managed Services, in particular the Enforce Suite.

Thanks to our colleague Deike, we have also followed suit in the area of human resources. Together, we have made it possible to implement a comprehensive development model that not only promotes the individual skills of our employees, but also drives the growth of the team. We have already set up a targeted traineeship programme that offers our young talents the opportunity to develop their skills in a targeted manner. In addition, training courses are being initiated for employees that not only cover familiar technical topics, but also allow us to delve into new areas such as the cloud. The introduction of a modern HR management system has optimised our processes and improved the interaction between applicants and us.

Automation, safety, increased performance – milestone reached

A major milestone for TEAL was the reorganisation of our entire test environment under the leadership of our colleague Linus. Full automation through HyperV & AutomatedLabs not only enables a smooth process, but has also been optimised through specific Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) for users and the operations team. The decision to switch from VPN connections to Microsoft Global Secure Access not only ensures efficient communication, but also significantly increases security. This change facilitates access to resources and demonstrates our focus on advanced technologies for maximum security.

Furthermore, we and especially our colleague Robin have been working on our security assessment. In this three-day assessment, we provide our customer with information on how attackers get into your company’s network and how you can protect yourself against them. We analyse the state of the company in detail and show effective ways to protect yourself by implementing technical and organisational measures. Always with the aim of minimising the potential impact of an attack as far as possible. In addition to the focus on optimising the evaluation processes of the assessment, we have also fundamentally changed the way in which we collect data from our customers.

Thanks to the refactoring of our wrapper system “Wrapper 2.0” by our colleague Till, we have made very good progress that significantly improves the performance of our security assessments. The redesign of the wrapper has implemented a new solution for execution, which means that assessments can now be carried out asynchronously and independently of each other. This change makes it possible to view and check results during execution and also simplifies the integration of extensions and improves maintainability – a significant improvement on the previous procedural process. The result is simplified operation, faster execution and improved user-friendliness.

Security for our customers – something we are proud of

The security of information is a top priority at Teal, particularly in terms of confidentiality, availability and integrity. We have therefore also implemented comprehensive security measures this year. These include the introduction of an information security management system (ISMS) and the pursuit of TISAX® (Trusted Information Security Assessment Exchange) certification. The evaluation was carried out by an accredited audit provider, in this case TÜV-Süd. The results of this audit can be accessed via the ENX portal. A big thank you goes to Gregor for the great project management.

Together successfully into the future

For us, 2023 was not only a year of technological advances, but above all a year of togetherness and team building. Our team events, the development of our trainees and the technological innovations show that we at TEAL are not only at the cutting edge of safety technologies, but are also a team that scales heights together.

And how could a year at TEAL end? With a festive Christmas party, of course, including a Christmas hamper, presents for colleagues and a final visit to a restaurant.

Thanks to our team and the wonderful and energising time!