Case study - Multiplicas Casa de Bolsa C.A.

Multiplicas Casa de Bolsa C.A. is a financial services company in Venezuela and is therefore privy to sensitive information that they need to protect. They installed GFI EndPointSecurity, an endpoint solution that allowed them to exercise comprehensive control over what portable storage devices are connected to the network and what information is coped off the network and by whom, thereby preventing data leakage. The company also installed GFI FaxMaker as a cost-cutting and environmental measure to cut down on communication costs and resources, such as paper and toner, associated with manual faxing.

Challenges

Multiplicas Casa de Bolsa C.A. employs over 90 people and as a financial services company the confidentiality, integrity and security of the data it handles are important factors that impact on the company’s reputation. Mr. Gustavo Rendon, Network and Security Administrator for the firm, said that “there was no control over what kind of information users were inserting or extracting from the company servers” and that prompted the company to look into endpoint security solutions. They tried using the existing tools provided in the operation system however these proved impractical to manage.

“We tried to block the use of USB mass storage devices using the operating system (Windows Server 2003) and while the blocking was partially successful, it wasn’t practical to use or manage; we couldn’t give temporary access to certain devices, and had no way to generate usage reports. Our antivirus software came with USB device control embedded, but it wasn’t enough either since, again, I couldn’t give temporary access to certain devices, didn’t have any report tools, and it would block every device connected to a USB port.”

Apart from security matters the company was also concerned about the increasing costs that they were incurring due to their usage of manual fax machines. Mr. Rendon said, “We needed a digital fax solution; we were using fax machines which turned out to be expensive and not environmentally friendly since we had to use fax paper and cartridges.”

Multiplicas Casa de Bolsa C.A therefore installed GFI FaxMaker and this allowed them to receive and send faxes from the comfort of their computers, thus eliminating the expense of paper and toner. “After testing GFI FaxMaker there was no need no try anything else,” said Mr. Rendon.

Implementation

The implementation of both GFI FaxMaker and GFI EndPointSecurity was a smooth process as Mr. Rendon explained: “The installation of GFI EndPointSecurity is very easy; it was up and running very quickly. It did create a bunch of groups in Active Directory, which I later deleted since I didn’t need them, but other than that I had no problems deploying this software.”

“Installing GFI FaxMaker couldn’t be easier; we had our fax server up and running in no time. It’s definitely better to have a fax server which centralizes the process of receiving and sending fax documents than having so many fax machines, over which we had little control in terms of expenditure.”

Benefits

Mr. Rendon said the results were noticeable immediately when the company installed GFI FaxMaker and GFI EndPointSecurity.

“GFI EndPointSecurity helped us comply with local regulations about data protection. Furthermore it enhances the security of the company’s information. Company directors were always worried about information leaks, now they are assured that the risk of data being stolen from the company using portable storage media has been greatly reduced. This leads to a great financial benefit because the cost of having confidential information stolen is higher than the cost of any product out there, so GFI EndPointSecurity served us just fine.”

“Users were used to taking work documents home and this was unacceptable to the Directors. They were also used to copying to/from their PCs – pictures, music and software - which is simply not permitted. This solution put an end to that,” said Mr. Rendon about GFI EndPointSecurity.

With GFI FaxMaker, “instead of using the old fax machines, we had faxes being delivered straight to the users’ inbox. No paper to waste, no cartridge to change. We definitely saved a lot of money by not using fax paper and toner. Also, we saved time and increased productivity because users don’t have to leave their workstations to pick up an incoming fax, they get it right in their inbox.” A fax server also increases confidentiality of data because there is no risk that confidential faxes could be seen or taken by someone else in the company. Only the authorized recipient does.

Target reached

“We found GFI products to be quicker to setup, easier to use and to maintain. I’d like to thank you for making great and very useful software which makes the lives of network administrators much easier.”

Links

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