Shadow Guard, explained.

What Shadow Guard does, what it works with, and how our platform and methods work, in plain terms.

A modern building runs on a dozen systems from a dozen vendors: the network, cameras, door access, HVAC, elevators, Wi-Fi. Each vendor sees its own piece. Nobody is responsible for the whole.

We are. Shadow Guard works for ownership to find out what's in the building, who controls it, and what depends on what, and then keeps that picture current.

The systems already in the building. We don't ask you to replace any of them.

Below is what we typically find in the properties we assess. Vendors are examples, not partnerships.

Command is our software. It reads from every system in the building and keeps one current record of what exists, how it connects, and who is responsible for it.

Underneath it is ARGOS, the model that ties those systems together. It works in five steps.

01

Connect

Read from the systems already in the building, through their own interfaces and exports. Nothing is replaced.

02

Normalize

Turn devices, accounts and events from every vendor into one schema, so a door controller and a switch can be compared.

03

Model

Place every asset in the building: which floor, which system, what it depends on, who maintains it.

04

Trace

When something changes, follow the dependencies to see what else is affected and why.

05

Answer

Give ownership a plain answer: what happened, what it touches, who is responsible, and what to do next.

What it looks like

Every asset gets a record like this one. A vendor's tool would show a device name and a status. Command shows what the device does, what it depends on, who can reach it and what's open against it.

Sample record. Data is illustrative.

Named for the watchman of Greek myth with a hundred eyes. ARGOS is the model every property is built on, so any issue can be traced from a single device up to the whole portfolio.

Every property is modeled the same way, on the same ten levels. That's what makes two buildings, or twenty, comparable.

01

Portfolio

Every property ownership holds

02

Property

One address, one ownership record

03

Building

Each structure on the property

04

Floor

Where equipment and people are

05

Space

Closets, offices, mechanical rooms

06

Asset

A switch, a door controller, a camera

07

System

The group an asset belongs to

08

Dependency

What each asset needs to keep working

09

Event

Anything that changes: alarms, logins, outages

10

Decision

What ownership did about it, and who

Named for the Roman god who looks two ways at once. A JANUS assessment looks back at what's actually in the building today, and forward at what ownership needs to control from here.

Looking back

What exists

Every system, device and vendor in scope

Who holds each credential and admin account

What's documented, and what only lives in someone's head

Looking forward

What ownership needs

The access ownership must be able to revoke on its own

The dependencies that would take the building down

A ranked plan for the next 90 days

Infrastructure

Networks, connectivity, redundancy and administrative control.

Cybersecurity

Credentials, remote access and ownership's ability to revoke it.

Physical security

Cameras, access control and who administers them.

Building systems

Automation, OT and IoT, and how they are isolated.

Vendor dependencies

Scopes, credentials, documentation and renewal risk.

Resilience

Backups, outage procedures and tested recovery.

01

Scope

Agree on the property, systems, vendors and floors in scope.

02

Interview

Ownership, management and each key vendor.

03

Verify

Walk the technology spaces and check what's there against what's on paper.

04

Score

Rate each domain against the Ownership Control Standard.

05

Report

Walk ownership through the findings and the plan.

The fastest way to explain Shadow Guard is often what it isn't.

Not a managed service provider

We don't run your network or answer your help desk. We work alongside the providers you already have.

Not a reseller

We don't sell hardware or take commissions from vendors, so nothing we recommend earns us a margin.

Not a replacement for your systems

Command reads from the systems in your building. Your vendors keep running them.

Not a penetration test

Assessments don't exploit vulnerabilities or change configurations unless you ask for that separately.

If yours isn't here, ask us directly.