IPS Deployments, Security Awareness Increasing at Banks and Credit Unions

The overall security consciousness of banks and credit unions has risen as their customers demand greater visibility into data and network protection. According to eScope Solutions, a large banking-specific managed security services providers (MSSP) and a Stonesoft customer, these financial institutions are demanding more information from their security providers on how their network is being managed and secured. Furthermore, intrusion prevention system (IPS) deployments are increasing sharply and being viewed as critical to overall security.

“We’re seeing increasing awareness of the security posture of the institution,” said Gerard Heege, CEO of eScope Solutions. “Because they’re under pressure from their customers, our banking clients want to see what’s going on and they are asking questions about events and wanting to know how we handled them.”

eScope Solutions today deploys Stonesoft’s network security solutions to provide this level of visibility. Heege continues: “When we can show them how an attack just got past everyone else’s IPS and ours stopped it, eyes open big, quotes get signed, and checks get mailed.”

eScope Solutions’ focus on the financial industry means extra regulation and compliance requirements, including Sarbanes Oxley and Gramm Leach Bliley. Based in Long Island, New York, the MSSP delivers services and solutions to more than 500 financial institutions across the country, including companies like Peoples Alliance FCU, Arrowpointe FCU and Gulf Coast Community FCU.

eScope Solutions has seen a sharp rise in the number of institutions that no longer want to manage their own network security, but still want to view network traffic activity and responses to specific events. This is only made possible through Stonesoft’s multi-tenant architecture, which allows the MSSP’s customers to view and monitor their own network, while simultaneously streamlining the management of multiple customer networks.

“We deal with banks and credit unions, and regulatory compliance requires that they have an IPS,” said Heege. “They don’t want to provide their own management of security solutions. They need to show that a third party is providing the security management, so they’re not testing their own locks.”

Managing With a Single Pane of Glass

Managing a myriad devices can be daunting for any security team, even more so when they represent multiple customers with varying policies, requirements and traffic types. The Stonesoft Management Center (SMC) gives MSSP technicians an efficient means to see, analyze and respond without constantly logging in and out of various devices.

“The SMC product is one of the things our engineering staff liked the most about Stonesoft,” said Heege. “It makes managing multiple units a lot easier than other products we have used. Being able to have 30-plus sensors at 30 different clients, viewable and manageable on one screen is a state-of-the-art capability for us.”

Because the SMC combines views of both IPS and Stonesoft’s next generation firewalls, eScope Solutions can identify additional selling opportunities within existing clients.

“The IPS product is topnotch. It’s the Mercedes of the industry. It’s easy to sell. If we have a client that has an IPS, we can offer a firewall solution to them and have them view their information through the same portal,” said Heege. “Without too much cost or pain, we can cross-sell IPS and firewall management. It’s one of the things my sales teams is excited about.”

Heege believes the success of his business is directly related to providing personal service and building relationships with customers. He does this by keeping the ratio of managed devices to engineers at a reasonable level. Stonesoft gives eScope Solutions the ability to manage more customers than the largest MSSPs with far fewer resources and at a low price per device.

He comments: “Our guys know the industry. We have been serving credit unions and banks for 20 years. But, we also know security and how important customer service is in the process of managing secure networks. Stonesoft’s products were designed to help us with that.”

Stonesoft is a global provider of proven, innovative network security solutions. For more information, please visit www.stonesoft.com.

About Stonesoft

Stonesoft Corporation (NASDAQ OMX: SFT1V) delivers dynamic, software-based network security solutions that secure information flow for more than 4,000 mid- and large-sized organizations across the globe. These include the industry’s first transformable Security Engine as well as standalone next generation firewalls, intrusion prevention systems and SSL VPN solutions. At the core of these solutions is the Stonesoft Management Center, which unifies and simplifies the management of entire networks while reducing TCO. Stonesoft is a recognized researcher of advanced evasion techniques and has the highest customer retention rate in the industry. Founded in 1990, the company’s corporate headquarters are based in Helsinki, Finland with North American headquarters in Atlanta, Georgia. For more information, visit www.stonesoft.com or stoneblog.stonesoft.com.