Optimal Media protects digital assets with Check Point

Optimal Media

Edel AG media group is one of Europe’s leading independent media companies which employs around 1,000 staff. Its largest subsidiary, Optimal Media GMBH, is one of the world’s largest printing houses of vinyl records, and is benefitting from the continuing resurgence of this music format. It is one of the most modern and innovative media service providers. It also has a book printing house, digital distribution centres, warehousing and automatic logistics centres, audio mastering studios and an authoring studio to process films, TV series and music.

Preventing data breaches

As the technical service provider of the group, Optimal Media’s IT Department is responsible for network and IT security systems for all eight of Edel AG’s European offices.

“Cyber security is very important to us. The production data our customers send us for their new CDs or records contains incredibly sensitive information and intellectual property that must be protected,” says Christoph Andreas, Team Leader, IT Systems & Support at Optimal Media. The international recording industry network, the IFPI, audits the IT security systems at Optimal Media each year – and so far it has passed every time. “But the threat level is becoming ever more critical, and the time it was taking to prepare for the audits had become unmanageable. Our existing, outdated firewall solution was not going to be enough for us in the long term, as it could not handle unknown threats,” says Andreas.

Comprehensive protections and visibility for all network traffic

The results of a one month evaluation of Check Point technology impressed the Edel AG board. The solution covered many loopholes and weak-points that the IT team had not even been aware of. “Comparing the results with other solutions showed us that Check Point was by far the only solution able to provide comprehensive protection and visibility for all network traffic, identify and block all types of threats in real-time and classify all applications and protocols,” says Andreas.

Check Point R80 – A new standard of security

With Check Point, Optimal Media achieved a new standard of security. Using Check Point’s high performance security gateway, Check Point R80.10 version, and using R80.10 security management, all networks, users, applications and data are controlled leveraging a unified security policy. The DLP prevents sensitive information from leaving the organization from any application and protocol, while SandBlast, Check Point’s zero-day threat prevention solution, prevents advanced threats and cyberattacks in real time – keeping them outside the network. Consolidating the entire security into a single platform managed by a unified, single-pane-of-glass management, optimal media now covers all aspects of security for complete protection – now and in the future.

Security level improved

“SandBlast is the most important product in our comprehensive Check Point solution as the software helps us to better assess attack patterns we had not been able to prevent before,” says Andreas. “With Check Point DLP we can now monitor incoming and outgoing traffic for the first time. For example, in the past, we had to ban people from attaching PDF and Word documents to emails for security reasons, to prevent propagation of data and threats across and outside of the organization. Now SandBlast can check the documents and clean them from threats while the DLP prevents the data from falling into the wrong hands.”

Another big advantage is that all security processing can be done on Check Point Security appliances at optimal media, rather than sending data to the cloud as many competing products suggest. “An on premise appliance solution is clearly the best option for us due to our clients’ needs for high levels of security,” explains Andreas. “We can use it to analyse the traffic here, on site, ourselves in real time.”

Optimal Media is currently looking into ways to leverage the Check Point solution. “The integrated Check Point solution has increased our cyber security level and saved us around four hours’ work per week. The visibility of all of the processes going on in the network is so much better,” says the IT Systems & Support Team Leader, confidently.

He also believes that the new integrated solution brings operational efficiency for the company that saves valuable time and money in security operation and management. The amount of work the IT administrators were required to do reduced by four to six hours per week, and the amount of time required to prepare all of the information for the annual security audit has also come down.

For further information, please visit: checkpoint.com/solutions/zero-day-protection/