Banco del Pacifico Thwarts Bank Robbers at their Cyber Gate

Banco del Pacífico is recognized as a pioneer of the Ecuadorean banking sector. Founded in 1972, it was the first bank to introduce ATMs, and the first to create networked banking. Now, they’re undertaking a comprehensive digital transformation program to advance leadership in online and mobile banking.

Protecting a National Institution

As one of Ecuador’s leading financial institutions, Banco del Pacífico is all too familiar with cyberattacks. In recent years, the bank has seen a huge increase in the volume and sophistication of these attacks. Some have been designed to disrupt day-to-day banking activities, while others, for financial gain.

“Security is very, very important,” says José Luis Nath, Vice-President of Technology and Security at Banco del Pacífico de Ecuador. “We have to protect our customers’ money. Our strategy has been to invest in the best security technology on the market to protect the bank’s assets and our customers’ data and deposits.”

The Most Advanced Threat Protection, Managed from a Single Platform

Banco del Pacifico has been a Check Point customer for many years, relying on their latest, feature-rich security solutions.

The Check Point Next Generation Gateway serves as the bank’s internal and external firewall, meeting datacenter demands for power, performance, and scalability. Check Point has also delivered the highest levels of protection through industry-leading, next-generation security solutions.

Check Point Next Generation Threat Prevention and SandBlast Network protect Banco del Pacifico’s perimeter – the first Latin American bank to use SandBlast in this way. This provides the bank with multi-layered protection, preventing known threats and zero-day attacks by using the SandBlast Threat Prevention suite, including Threat Emulation, Threat Extraction, antivirus, anti-bot, IPS, app control, URL filtering, and identity awareness.

SandBlast Threat Emulation technology monitors and inspects CPU-level instruction flow to detect attacks attempting to bypass operating system security controls. SandBlast Threat Extraction then removes dangerous content, such as embedded objects, reconstructs files to eliminate potential threats, and promptly delivers secure content to the bank’s users.

For José Luis Nath, SandBlast’s advanced features ensure that Check Point examines all incoming email traffic for active or malicious content – and quarantines it before it’s able to enter the bank’s network and inflict damage. A PDF version confirms the malware has been extracted and the bank obtains a clear record of the source of the attack and the action taken to block it.

More recently, Banco del Pacífico added Check Point Security Management R80 to its security portfolio. This has allowed the bank to obtain the most advanced threat prevention across networks and cloud, and managed through a single security management platform and console that provides transparency and an up-to-date network protection status. It also unifies security policies and enables the bank’s network to connect securely to third-party organizations. Another benefit is that they can make sure the same software runs across all platforms and in all locations.

Comprehensive Security Keeps Bank and its Customer Safe

Banco del Pacifico’s Check Point security solutions work together to keep the bank’s assets and customers’ deposits safe. They secure the bank from the growing threats posed by sophisticated and determined cybercriminals, especially with the proliferation of spear phishing and ransomware attacks.

Check Point’s Next Generation gateways are strengthening the bank’s firewalls, while SandBlast identifies potential threats and removes them before they can penetrate the bank’s defenses and endanger its network operations.

“The upgrade to R80 has delivered a number of positive outcomes,” explains José Luis Nath. “The single platform is simple and efficient to use while policy automation reduces the strain on our in-house security resources. The bank has a greater and more detailed understanding of current and future threats and what’s being done to deal with them.”

The bank has also been able to optimize their security resources by delivering valuable innovation and process improvements. For example, the organization has been able to adopt secure teleworking, increasing productivity, and lowering costs.

“We’re better able to optimize our security resources,” says Nath. “This delivers real value to the business allowing us to focus on innovation and process improvements.”

“Indeed, the business has been able to roll-out teleworking allowing staff to work securely from home. This delivers real cost and productivity advantages. The bank has been able to identify new threats, and to prevent phishing and malicious email attacks.”

“Because our Check Point solutions are so effective, we’re calm in the face of these threats,” says Nath. “As the business undertakes a digital transformation, and we move towards the Cloud, we feel prepared for any eventuality. With Check Point, we have the advantage of a long-term relationship with a supplier that stays on top of the latest solutions.”

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