Primary Ratings

A primary rating is a self-published rating used to highlight a segment of network infrastructure that better reflects a company's security posture. They are used to address common concerns about the impact of segmented guest Wi-Fi networks, malware labs, and other similar infrastructure on the publishing company’s rating.

A ratings tree can have one primary rating for each curated company in the tree. If there is at least one self-published company in the rating bundle associated with a curated company, it can be highlighted as the primary rating.

As a publisher, go to your Company Details page, and then select Actions ➔ Configure Primary Rating.

Any public self-published rating within the bundle can be highlighted as the primary rating. This designation helps communicate which company the publishing organization believes is the best indication of their security posture to third parties.

The primary rating is communicated with all users of the Bitsight platform, including subscribers and potential subscribers, in the following ways:

• A primary rating is identified with a Primary icon in the ratings tree, the company page, and the search results page.
• The search results page sorts by relevance, with primary companies having greater weight.
• The company page for the Bitsight curated root of the bundle (parent company) indicates the existence of a primary rating.

Use Cases

Primary ratings can be used by publishers and subscribers in the following manner:

Publisher

• At the time of creating the self-published company, the publisher can include a description for subscribers and potential subscribers, e.g., “This report excludes the Acme, Inc. guest Wi-Fi and malware research lab networks.”
• Review all self-published ratings in a rating bundle and highlight one as the primary.
• Remove the primary rating designation from their Bitsight curated rating.

Subscriber

• Subscribers can request more detailed network map information (such as the differences between the Bitsight curated and the primary rating) directly from the publisher to assess the trustworthiness of the rating.
• If the publishing company designates a primary rating, subscribers have the option to switch their subscription to the company with the primary rating and vice versa. Subscribers have the option to subscribe to the primary, the Bitsight curated, or one of the self-published ratings of a company. Learn how to subscribe to companies.