U.S. State Agency – Endpoint Security

The state agency is comprised of five divisions and serves all boards and agencies of its state government. The agency belongs to one of the largest states in the US with a population of more than 25 million.

As a state entity, the agency must abide by strict compliance and privacy laws. To ensure optimal data protection, the agency looked to Check Point for the following:

• Consolidation of technologies including encryption, firewall, and anti-malware
• Simplified central management and reporting
• Reduced costs associated with a multi-vendor deployment
• Increased protection through user education

Endpoint Security Software Blades Ensures Data Security and Protection from Malware

To safeguard against the loss of intellectual property, comply with HIPPA regulations, and ensure the protection of personally identifiable information, the agency leverages Check Point’s data protection technologies including Full Disk Encryption (FDE) and Media Encryption (ME). “Being able to control removable media as well as lock down all endpoint hard drives has increased our security posture dramatically.” Together, with Anti-Malware & Program Control, Firewall & Compliance Check, and WebCheck, the agency has a complete unified solution that provides better control and increased security protection in a single consolidated package.

3D Security Vision Increases Protection through User Awareness

The Check Point Endpoint security solution enables the agency to identify, set customized messages for various conditions, and drive users to take corrective actions should they be out of compliance, violating agency policy, or a number of other conditions that might arise. “With our previous product many users weren’t even aware they were out of compliance or violating agency policies. With Check Point we’re able to give a very explicit set of customized instructions for security updates, data handling procedures, and compliance policies and block or restrict access based on individual users, groups, or machines.” Check Point’s 3D security vision combines policies, people, and enforcement for stronger protection across all layers of security. This enables the agency to go beyond policies and enforcement and educate its employees on proper security policies and procedures.

Centralized management increases visibility and simplifies reporting

Leveraging the Check Point Endpoint Security Management console enables the agency to get a clear picture of all its endpoint security functions and deploy consistent policies across nearly 5000 endpoint devices. Using the SmartTracker Software Blade, the agency is able to create custom compliance reports to show virus exposures and how they have been remediated. “Our virus exposure numbers are extremely low at this point. Compared with our previous solution, we’ve been able to cut the number of infected machines by at least by half, mostly due to the reliability and distribution of definitions and the fact that Compliance Check ensures all OS and AV updates are installed and set up correctly.”

Security

• Comprehensive solution maintains ability to comply with government privacy and security requirements
• Delivers multi-tiered endpoint threat protection in an integrated package
• Efficiently detects and removes malware from endpoints with a single scan
• FDE ensures that all hard disks are encrypted, keeping all stored data secure and protected

Ease of Management

• Centralized security management enables the agency to set and monitor policies for multiple security needs while conserving resources
• Single management console simplifies administration

Reliability

• “Endpoint software for most users is just plumbing, they don’t want to be aware of it; they just want it to work. Check Point does what it’s supposed to do by significantly lessening the possibility of major work disruption, so most users are never aware of it.”