X

The University of Hawaii (UH) was facing a significant challenge in managing its computer-network security and availability for over 47,000 students and 30 in-house software developers. The university was using a firewall from a legacy computer-network provider, which lacked the necessary functionality and user-friendly interface. With a community of over 58,000 students, faculty, and staff, and a peak usage of 36,000 sessions per second, UH needed to stay ahead of the network demand curve and prevent potential performance issues. The university also required a solution that was flexible and adaptable to the changing pattern of attacks on the Internet. The existing firewall/VPN was too rigid and lacked intelligent management capabilities. Therefore, UH began to evaluate alternatives to its current configuration in winter 2004.

TekJet, a Denver-based managed IT services provider, was looking to expand its services to include IT security. The company, which primarily serves small- and medium-sized businesses, had transitioned from a 'break-fix' business model to a managed services model, offering additional value-added services. However, to incorporate IT security into its service portfolio, TekJet needed a solution that would integrate seamlessly with its existing managed services platform. This platform was used for remotely managing customer infrastructures, including network components, servers, and desktop PCs. Furthermore, TekJet required the capability to remotely control policy and upgrades for all customers from their Network Operation Center.

The City of Montreal faced a significant challenge when it was required to merge with 28 surrounding suburbs, a move that was met with considerable opposition. This led to the promise of referendums to reverse the mergers, provided sufficient voters registered for the referendum. To facilitate this process, the City needed to set up temporary voter registration centers, which required a secure and efficient system to manage sensitive voter information. The City had to ensure total security for this sensitive data, provide a quick setup for these temporary centers, and supply efficient security management. The challenge was further compounded by the need to update the centralized voter list in real time, reducing paper volume and saving time over the previous manual process of collecting paper forms for later data entry.

Tokiwa University, a private educational corporation in Japan, unveiled its new Media and Information Technology Center in 2005 to facilitate education and research across the campus. The center houses a full inventory of digital equipment, including computers, video production studios and equipment, and much more. In 1995, the university connected to the Internet through participation in SINET (Science Information Network). As the needs of the faculty and students quickly grew beyond Web browsing and email, branching into a variety of other applications, the university faced growing issues of network bandwidth and guaranteed availability. The university needed to balance security with network expansion and guaranteed availability. They needed an environment allowing free access to the Internet for students, which means they absolutely had to have strong security measures in place.

The YMCA of Metropolitan Chicago, one of the largest human services organizations in the nation, faced significant challenges related to remote access connections due to its sheer size and the nature of its operations. The organization runs programs in facilities that are not always their own, and a growing number of employees, particularly at the management level, needed to connect to the network from their home or off-site locations. The challenge was to provide these workers with a way to take their laptops off-site or work from home but still be able to connect to the network and access their desktops to retrieve important information. The organization needed a reliable, secure, and cost-effective solution to ensure the confidentiality and integrity of restricted information.

Hixardt Technologies, a company specializing in providing technology services and solutions for small- to medium-sized businesses, faced a significant challenge. The company's primary focus was on businesses with 25-35 users, a segment often overlooked in terms of IT solutions. Most available solutions were either designed for individual consumers or large enterprises, leaving a gap in the market for SMBs. Hixardt needed a solution that could cater to the unique needs of these businesses, particularly in terms of IT security. The solution needed to be integrated into Hixardt’s management system, allowing for centralized management of its clients' IT needs in real-time, while also being cost-effective and profitable.

Jeonju University, a leading educational institution in South Korea, was faced with the challenge of managing a vast database of academic credits and personal records for its 12,000 students and nearly 250,000 graduates. The university's existing server was overburdened with daily traffic, leaving it vulnerable to increased attacks and creating a precarious internet environment. The university needed a quick, efficient, and cost-effective security solution that could handle the growing need for protection and ensure the confidentiality and integrity of restricted information.

Osmose, a leader in wood preservation technology and asset management, was faced with the challenge of supporting the needs of 800 users in their corporate headquarters and 200 remote users. The remote users, who frequently traveled and used their laptops in various locations worldwide, posed a significant security risk. The company's sensitive and proprietary information was at risk of being compromised due to potentially unsecured endpoints logging in from all over the world. Osmose had a limited IT resource and struggled to ensure these endpoints were secure before accessing the corporate network. As a result, they instituted a closed Internet access policy that required remote users to whitelist the hotel's network before accessing the corporate network. This policy was not well received by users, and many stopped trying to use the Internet access available in hotels. Another challenge was the issue of basic Microsoft Security updates. Many employees neglected to download the latest improvements, further compromising the security of the network.

The International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW) had been a Check Point customer for about eight years and was familiar with the quality and superiority of Check Point security solutions. However, they faced a challenge when users began experiencing problems with secure remote access. With approximately 70 percent of employees working outside the organization’s headquarters, IFAW needed a secure remote access solution that could guarantee more internal security and controls, especially for mobile users. The majority of mobile users were migrating away from using IFAW global dial-up access to the available broadband access options in hotels and conference rooms. This migration led to issues such as worm infestations, an increase in malware, and users returning to the office with unauthorized software installed on their devices. IFAW was concerned that the remote workforce, who had access to confidential internal systems while on the road, would use a VPN tunnel to unknowingly inject something inappropriate inside network headquarters.

Denbighshire County Council, serving a local population of 93,000 in North Wales, UK, was faced with the challenge of managing web access for a diverse range of users. This included providing and supporting leased-line Internet access for 66 primary and secondary schools across the county, as well as Internet services within the County’s local libraries, in addition to maintaining the Council’s own internal network. The council’s IT team was tasked with the daunting task of sorting through the massive volumes of log data produced by its security and network devices every day. Converting millions of data logs from multiple sources into usable, actionable information was proving to be an insurmountable task for the small IT team. This not only made it difficult to perform security checks or spot emerging attacks or vulnerabilities systematically, but also diverted the IT team’s resources away from other important network management tasks.

P&T Luxembourg, a leading provider of residential and professional services in the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, faced a significant challenge in protecting their infrastructure, applications, and data from the increasing threat of Internet attacks. The speed, profusion, and structure of these attacks, including viruses, spamming, and phishing, necessitated the development of preventive and remote security measures. The company needed to ensure that these security measures were in place before any potential attacks could strike their IT infrastructure. Furthermore, there was a growing trend among companies to rely on external service providers for safeguarding their IT networks and infrastructure from Internet threats. To meet this challenge, P&T Luxembourg turned to a range of Check Point solutions to provide its customers with a dependable, quality service.

Memorial Health Services (MHS), a nationally recognized, not-for-profit health care system with five hospitals in Southern California, was faced with the challenge of protecting confidential patient information. With increasing media coverage on the exposure of confidential patient data, MHS was concerned about a potential data breach that could compromise the security or confidentiality of patient information. As one of the top hospital organizations in the country, MHS is responsible for large amounts of confidential patient information. The growing number of employees working remotely and regulatory drivers such as the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) and SB 1386, a California law regulating the privacy of personal information, necessitated a comprehensive data security solution that could be deployed quickly and transparently to secure the personal health information of its patients.

Andrade Gutierrez (AG), one of Brazil’s largest heavy construction firms, was experiencing rapid growth and needed a more reliable, higher-performing, and easier-to-manage network. The company was redesigning its infrastructure to converge voice and data on a single network and required a security solution with the performance and stability to handle the combined traffic. The existing firewalls were unstable, and the company was faced with the decision to upgrade or replace them. At the same time, AG wanted to extend secure network connectivity to all the remote offices at its construction sites in Brazil. While the major offices had direct network links, some smaller offices were left outside the network with only Internet access.

TeliaSonera, a leading telecommunications company, operates in two distinct markets: the Nordic and Baltic regions, and the rest of Europe and Asia. In the mature Nordic and Baltic markets, TeliaSonera services 23 million out of a total population of 31 million customers. The company's growth strategy in these regions involves offering managed services for voice and data that business customers can tailor to their needs. In the European and Asian markets, TeliaSonera only offers mobile services but is continually exploring new opportunities and expanding as appropriate. The company's managed service solutions include monitoring, support, maintenance, and security from the network level to the server level to the desktop. For the security component, TeliaSonera needed a flexible solution that could cater to a wide range of customers from small businesses to large enterprises and provide easy, cost-effective management of hundreds of firewall gateways.

TDC Song, a leading Nordic telecom operator, faced a significant challenge when it was acquired by the TDC Group of Denmark. The acquisition required a name change and a complex consolidation of backend systems across the entire Nordic region, including Denmark, Finland, Norway, and Sweden. As a telecom service provider to 23,000 customers, primarily medium to large enterprises, TDC Song needed to offer easy-to-implement security policies to their customers. However, the company only provided capacity and not security consultation. The consolidation project required a solution that could handle the consolidation of separate physical gateways onto one virtualized gateway, while also allowing for easy adjustment of security policies based on individual end-customer preferences.

Agenzia ANSA, a leading news agency in Italy and one of the first in the world, faced a significant challenge in ensuring secure remote access for its travelling users. The agency, which provides complete coverage of Italian and foreign events through 22 offices in Italy and 81 agencies in 74 countries, needed to protect its popular portal from intrusion attempts and attacks. ANSA's journalists, working under stressful conditions and extreme deadline pressure, needed to be able to file their stories in a timely manner from anywhere that news is breaking. The agency had relied on VPN-1 Power for years to guarantee secure connections for its remote offices and local bureaus to the home office. However, there was a need for a solution that would allow users to transmit news stories from any location where there is Internet service.

Shepherd and Wedderburn, a leading UK law firm, was faced with the challenge of securing confidential client information and intellectual property against loss or theft. As a legal organization, the firm handles a large volume of sensitive data daily, ranging from medical litigation cases to employment disputes. The potential consequences of any confidentiality breach would be disastrous for the firm, both in terms of reputation and trust. The firm's IT manager, Mark Findlay, identified three key requirements from a security solution: protection of intellectual property including confidential client information, prevention of nonbusiness software/material introduction onto the corporate network, and prevention of virus infections.

In the mid-to-late 90s, Redditch Borough Council, a local government body in the United Kingdom, faced a significant security challenge. The spread of boot sector viruses via infected floppy disks was a major security problem. The council's IT department identified that a significant virus threat to its network was being caused by users introducing floppy disks onto their work PCs, which they had been using at home. The council needed a solution that would manage the introduction of foreign media and control the installation of software and new files on every council PC. Prior to adopting Check Point data security, the council relied on an antivirus package deployed on a small number of machines. However, this solution failed to provide complete security, and the associated costs of protecting the network from unauthorized software installations and viruses proved to be beyond the scope of available budgets.

RPS, a leading multidisciplinary consultancy in Ireland, faced a significant challenge in providing secure, reliable remote access for its highly distributed enterprise. The company supports its various divisions with an information technology strategy characterized as a 'distributed centralized model.' Services such as email are centralized, with different services being located in different places connected by an MPLS network. However, hundreds of RPS employees move around, working from various locations including RPS offices, home, hotels, airports, customer facilities, or even remote countryside locations. The company needed to provide secure remote access that is also extremely user-friendly so that consultants can access their email, download standards from the intranet, and report their hourly billings and expenses from the field in a timely manner. The existing https product for remote intranet access was not deemed secure enough for wide distribution due to concerns about the safety of the laptops used by the employees.

The University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center, one of the world’s most respected centers devoted exclusively to cancer patient care, research, education and prevention, faced a significant challenge in maintaining patient privacy. The center, which handles approximately 65,000 patients annually, has always prioritized patient privacy, even before federal and state regulations made it mandatory. As part of their Code of Ethics, patient information is confidential and cannot be disclosed to third parties without patient consent. However, with the advent of the internet and the opportunities it presented, such as telemedicine, remote access to patient records, remote consultation with a patient’s primary physician and mobile healthcare services, the center had to find a way to balance these technological advancements with the stringent requirements of HIPAA. The challenge was not only substantial due to the sheer number of patients but also because of the large number of employees, volunteers, students, postdoctoral fellows, and others who needed access to the information for educational and distance-learning opportunities.

Edwards Lifesciences, a global leader in cardiovascular disease treatment, faced a significant challenge in ensuring the security of its network endpoints. As a U.S. healthcare company, Edwards Lifesciences had to comply with numerous federal and state regulations, including the Federal Drug Administration, the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA), the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act, the Sarbanes-Oxley (SOX) Act, and the California Security Breach Information Act. To meet these regulatory requirements, Edwards needed to demonstrate that all its endpoints connecting to the network were safe and adhered to the company’s security policies. The company had a presence in 100 cities, with its main data center in Irvine, California, and a regional hub in Horw, Switzerland. Many offices and remote users connected securely through the Internet via Check Point VPN-1 Pro gateways, adding to the complexity of the security challenge.

Swiss Re, a leading reinsurance company, faced a significant challenge in protecting critical data on the 4,500 notebooks used by its employees. These laptops were used by employees who frequently traveled, commuted between different locations, or occasionally worked from home. The existing password protection in Windows XP was deemed inadequate, as notebooks protected in this way were vulnerable to misuse within minutes with easily available hacking tools. The company needed a solution that would prevent unauthorized persons from reading the data on these notebooks. The solution had to be compatible with the existing server infrastructure, the application components on the laptops, and the software distribution mechanism. It also had to be installable automatically during operation without the need for support employees on site.

The Freedom Centre, a charity and day center for physically disabled people in Sheerness, Kent, United Kingdom, wanted to offer Internet-related experiences to its members. The trustees believed that the Internet could be a valuable tool for people with disabilities, helping them extend their scope and increase interaction with the world. With a grant from the National Lottery, the center bought two high-capacity PCs, a printer, and software to work on the Internet, and added classes using the Internet, e-mail, and website design for both recreational and research purposes. However, with the expanded independence that the Internet offered, concerns arose about protecting a vulnerable group from offensive, dangerous, and inappropriate inbound and outbound contacts. The Center Trustees also worried about the potential negative repercussions with donors if member-clients were found to be accessing inappropriate web content.

Advanced Systems Group (ASG), a national Open Systems integrator and certified Check Point partner, was facing growing security challenges as it expanded from a single office to multiple locations. Despite being a smaller company with just over 100 employees, ASG was dealing with significant issues related to network security. The company was using Verizon Business for the management of its wide-area network, but was dissatisfied with the limitations of their network managed firewalls. The cost was high and the bandwidth provided was insufficient for ASG's needs. ASG's Chief Information Officer, Dan Park, was looking for a solution that could provide better internet security management at a more affordable cost.

CSL Limited, a leading mobile network operator in Hong Kong, faced a significant challenge in maintaining robust security protection for its services. As the first mobile phone operator in Hong Kong, CSL has a reputation to uphold among its 2.6 million customers. Any amount of service downtime could severely impact the company's image and reputation. The company operates in a highly competitive market with more than seven mobile service providers and around 11 million mobile subscribers. Given the 24x7 uptime requirement of a mobile service provider in such a competitive environment, attentive support and quick turnaround time from vendors was crucial. The challenge was to find a solution that could provide comprehensive protection against threats, offer one-stop deployment and service support, and ensure secure and continuous uptime.

Family Assurance, the UK’s largest tax-exempt friendly society, faced a significant challenge in maintaining data and corporate network integrity due to the large number of staff. The company identified risks associated with unmanaged user access, such as the potential for sensitive data to be moved via removable media or the introduction of virus-infected, untested, or unlicensed software. The team at Family Assurance wanted to take a proactive stance and use a sophisticated technology solution to ensure that the company did all that it could to promote good practice. They aimed to achieve accreditation from the Federation Against Software Theft (FAST), a UK organization that promotes the legal use of software. FAST accreditation indicates software compliance and reduces virus risks.

Glatfelter Insurance Group (GIG), a leading insurance broker, faced a significant challenge in supporting its home-based sales executives. The company markets its Volunteer Firefighters Insurance Services (VFIS) products and programs through independent agents and a network of sales executives who work from their homes. To support these sales executives, GIG implemented new customer relationship management (CRM) and imaging applications with a Web interface. However, the remote access via toll-free dialup was slow, and telecommunications costs were soaring as these associates frequently stayed connected all day. GIG needed a faster, more cost-effective, and secure way for sales executives to access sales-support information and communicate with underwriters and claims professionals.

Matheson Tri-Gas, a supplier of pure gases and gas mixtures, was facing a significant challenge in connecting its numerous branch offices and integrating newly acquired businesses. The company, which has over 900 employees and 60 locations across the United States, was growing rapidly and had plans to acquire more distribution companies. Many of these locations were small offices and retail outlets with limited IT resources. These locations required access to the company’s intranet, centralized ERP applications, and a proprietary cylinder management system that tracks more than 700,000 gas cylinders nationwide. The existing frame relay networks were slow and expensive, and the company wanted to leverage the development of broadband services to link its branch offices. However, the company was concerned about the security risks of always-on Internet connections and needed a cost-effective Internet security and Virtual Private Network (VPN) solution that was easy to use and transparent to the users.

Tech Electronics, an IT services company with a wide customer base across the country, faced a significant challenge in securing remote access to customer information. The company's employees handle sensitive data remotely, making it crucial for the company to assure its customers that their data is safe. The company sought a solution to guarantee security and centrally manage security updates across all endpoints on the network. The first challenge was securing mobile connections over the open Internet, with the idea of using a Virtual Private Network (VPN) to secure communications in transit. Another challenge was the logistics of implementing a security solution on new phones for over 200 employees, which involved taking delivery of the phones, uploading the security solution, and distributing the phones to employees in the field. Lastly, the company needed a way to manage updates centrally and automatically once the new phones were distributed.

Michael Page International, a leading professional recruitment agency, faced a significant challenge in securing its confidential data across office-based PCs and a fleet of 50 laptops used by directors, senior management, and IT staff. The company, with around 300 PCs in 65 offices across the UK, needed a solution that could protect against data loss or theft, and could be easily deployed and controlled across a distributed network. The need for confidentiality was paramount in their business, as their clients and applicants depended on it. The challenge was to find a solution that would not only secure the data but also operate automatically without disrupting the end user, and reduce the burden on IT support staff.