Zètema protects Rome’s heritage from cyber threats with Check Point

Check Point R80 means we have a single interface from which to manage VPN, firewall rules, application-level security, navigation control, and integration with Active Directory. Before, such simplicity was impossible. It’s taking us half the time to do what we need to do. It is a salvation.
– Luca Pavone, IT Manager, Zètema

Overview

About Zètema
Zètema is an in-house department of the Municipality of Rome, responsible for implementing strategies to strengthen and integrate museum, tourist and cultural services. Rome is one of the most important tourist destinations of the world, receiving seven to ten million tourists a year.

Zètema’s goal is to maximize their use of the city’s historic, artistic and cultural heritage. Zètema’s network connects 850 employees, more than 20 museums and their associated bookshops, refreshment areas and cafes in Rome.

Business Challenge

Protecting a city’s cultural heritage
As Zètema becomes increasingly digitally connected, it is responsible for the security of its city-wide staff and the huge amount of data generated by the many visitors who come to see Rome’s beauty. It’s critical that Zètema strengthens its cyber security.

Originally relying on four firewalls from multiple vendors, Zètema decided to consolidate its ageing firewalls and strengthen its security position with integrated web filtering, network segmentation and perimeter security. “There are only two of us in the IT department,” says Luca Pavone, IT Manager, Zètema. “We needed a platform that was simple to manage.”

Solution

Taking security to the next level
Zètema replaced its existing, complex security solution with integrated Check Point Next Generation Threat Prevention and SandBlast Zero-day Protection. The Check Point solution provides comprehensive and advanced protection from known and unknown, zero-day threats. SandBlast Threat Emulation (sandboxing) identifies unknown zero-day threats while Threat Extraction delivers safe content to users. Integrated Application Control and URL Filtering enables the small IT department to allow safe Internet use, while blocking users from visiting risky sites or using risky applications.

At the center of the Check Point solution is the R80 cyber security management platform. This features centralized management of threat prevention and the user- based access control policy, increasing operational efficiency and lowering the complexity of managing security. Logging and event management is also fully integrated under the SmartEvent umbrella, which sifts large amounts of data to quickly present IT staff with the events that need immediate attention. “The Check Point solution has allowed us to integrate, optimize, and actually raise the level of protection; all things we didn’t have in the previous solutions,” says Pavone.

Results

Greater protection, simplified management
The result, says Pavone, is an integrated security position that is easier to manage: “We have a single interface from which to manage VPN, firewall rules, application- level security, navigation control, and integration with Active Directory. Before, such simplicity was impossible. It’s taking us half the time to do what we need to do. It is a salvation.”

Many security tasks are now automated. Zètema has around 1,000 network users, with 400 regular users logging in each day. Access to certain social media, previously granted manually, is now managed in seconds. “Check Point has greatly simplified how we work,” he states. “We’ve raised the protection level. We have a modern solution to modern problems.” The impact is transformational, he says. The Check Point solution not only helps protect the organization, it delivers an unprecedented level of detail on the security landscape.

“The fundamental difference is how much data we’re now able to generate and to view. We can see clearly the number of attacks that are reported, detected and stopped. This has been terrifying to some, but it is reassuring to know threats are being dealt with effectively.”