Check Point Next Generation Threat Prevention Software Blade Solution

SF Police Credit Union (SFPCU) serves more than 34,000 members. The organization offers a full set of financial services, including loans, savings and checking accounts and insurance and investment products. Founded in 1953, the SFPCU has grown to over $760 million in assets.

Like most financial institutions, SFPCU takes security extremely seriously. Even a brief lapse in security can expose its members’ most important financial data, damaging the credit union’s reputation and creating liability risks. Compliance with government and industry organizations such as the National Credit Union Administration (NCUA) is also critical. “If we fall out of compliance with the NCUA, we risk losing our rating and, in extreme cases, regulators can take over operations to resolve the failed corporates,” says Victor To, Director of Network Security at SFPCU.

Although the SFPCU’s firewall had provided adequate protection for ten years, an internal audit showed that the aging system had major compliance issues.

“The previous legacy firewall lacked a good reporting system, and we had no management transparency,” says To. “This made my job really difficult when I needed a security posture report.”

SFPCU needed to upgrade to a security solution that could deliver:

• Improved support for compliance audits
• Comprehensive protection against external threats and internal issues
• Simplified management

The Check Point Solution

Check Point Next Generation Threat Prevention is a unified next generation solution that gives SFPCU comprehensive threat protection to keep sensitive member and company data safe. And the solution supports detailed reporting that’s essential for regulatory compliance. Check Point Partner Dataway worked closely with the credit union to build a solution that was optimized to provide protection against a wide range of external and internal threats, plus secure connectivity for the firm’s mobile workforce. Having a complete solution running on one platform gives the credit union complete peace of mind, and helps the firm save money on management.

Complete Protection Against Sophisticated External and Internal Threats

To enhance security across its organization, the SFPCU replaced its legacy firewall with the Check Point Next Generation Threat Prevention solution at its headquarters as well as at a branch site. The solution is packed with an array of Check Point Software Blades to safeguard the network perimeter and to fight today’s advanced threats, like bots and malicious emails, and to deliver proactive intrusion prevention. The solution also helps the credit union control remote access and gain visibility into internal network traffic through unified management and monitoring.

“The Check Point Data Loss Prevention (DLP) Software Blade helps alert us about activities that could be overlooked, like transmission of account information over email,” says To. “Check Point can discover and block these events. It generates a report to alert an administrator, who can educate employees about best practices. Our previous solution didn’t support this capability.”

Detailed Security Reporting Enables Full Regulatory Compliance

The SFPCU had to meet specific guidelines to safeguard its information and demonstrate the effectiveness of its security systems to government and industry auditors. The Check Point Next Generation Threat Prevention solution delivers up-to-date reporting that the credit union’s IT staff can use to document its security best practices.

“Since the financial crisis in 2008, auditors have been examining financial institutions’ IT security much more closely,” says To. “We didn’t have strong reporting mechanisms in the past. The Check Point solution provides a foundation for my reports, so we can stay in compliance.”

Simple, Complete Security Management

The Check Point solution lets SFPCU monitor and manage all of its security via a single pane of glass and a single intuitive interface. This streamlined management is especially beneficial to the credit union’s small IT staff, which can save time by rapidly drilling down and examining security issues that occur.

“Check Point gives us a single dashboard view that lets us quickly zero-in on critical threats and events,” says To. “Having a solution that’s easy to manage is also hugely helpful when we have staff augmentation. We can train them to use the dashboard easily, without a major learning curve, so they can get started fast.”

Robust reporting enables compliance with government and industry security regulations

• Variety of reports provides a foundation for a security report summary required by internal and external auditors
• Comprehensive solution tracks and reports on multiple security systems

The Check Point Software Blade solution replaces expensive separate products

• Anti-Bot, Antivirus and IPS Software Blades deliver robust threat prevention
• Check Point Anti-Spam & Email Security Software Blade helps safeguard communications
• DLP Software Blade helps prevent data breaches
• VPN and Mobile Access Software Blades enable secure connectivity and mobility

Strong security helps SFPCU improve business operations

• Check Point solution can monitor employee activity to safeguard internal data with best practices
• Support for SSL VPN helps employees stay productive when working outside the office
• Simplified management helps IT staff work more efficiently