Remote Control
Providing access to data and internal applications for remote users calls for a secure connection to keep everything safe and sound.
In a global reinsurance business, internal business units, customers, and partners need to have access to the network but not at the expense of allowing worms and viruses to enter the system along with the remote users. We have about 250 remote users who constantly are traveling around the world, and they are exposed to all sorts of viruses, worms, and the like, says Desmond Lee, project manager, group IT infrastructure and operations, PartnerRe. We had the experience of being disrupted by these uninvited things. They caused a lot of agony to users. We didnt have any form of prevention to help [remote users] do their job safely while they are out of the office.
Lee lists five challenges PartnerRe needed to address:
Simplify and secure remote access for all PartnerRe network users.
Enable secure access to published internal resources previously not possible or easily available in a secure fashion.
Implement companywide, proactive defense both internally and externally.
Integrate and improve next-generation network infrastructure with eventual goal to reduce number of remote access points worldwide.
Lay secure foundation for future initiatives, e.g., WiFi in-house, Citrix Web Access.
We realized this is a business-driven initiative in contrast to most IT projects that were largely driven from the IT side, says Lee. Because this was driven from the business, security is something we needed to make sure business understood it to besomething that is part and parcel of life and not something for IT. The more we extend access by wireless, the more exposure we are opening ourselves to. We convinced the business users simplification is better, but we have to do better. Antivirus in itself is not efficient. We have to be more proactive.
PartnerRe formed a mobility-enhancement project team and, over a period of two months, evaluated a half-dozen vendors and their solutions before selecting Sygates Secure Enterprise Solution in combination with SSL-based VPN appliances from Sygates partner, NetScreen.
The installation was manageable and straightforward, Lee reports. Even the engineers working together for the first time were pleasantly surprised, he says, adding core project team members underwent formal technical training in key areas to prepare for the initial phase of back-end support internally.
PartnerRe was able to reduce VPN hardware by approximately 70 percent and receive an upfront savings of $100,000 in endpoint security investments. Prior to the installation, the reinsurer was spending $30,000 for each virus or worm incident, so Partner Re expects to save greatly by preventing such occurrences.
The response to the new system has been positive. The solution meets and exceeds requirements in certain scopes, Lee affirms. IT support staff was mostly happy in the techniques used for deployment. Extensive tests and an intensive planning/design phase paid off fairly well. User education and hands-on training play a very pivotal role to help everyone make the best practical use of the technologies with confidence they are always protected, secure, and safe.
Any minor problems with the system quickly were resolved, according to Lee. Users generally are keen to get online with the new remote-access solution, something that can be put to immediate real-world use to address old issues with positive results, he says.
The new system will offer PartnerRe significant manpower savings, Lee asserts. Although our global IT colleagues have to be trained on the new technologies,he says, this will translate to decreased downtime for users. He cites proactive endpoint security with Sygate that will lower the number of support calls received by the IT department for such things as removing a virus and online support to fix VPN remote connectivity.
With resulting cost savings expected across the board, this is one of the most obvious and concrete examples of ROI, says Lee. We got better at what we wanted to do rather than just simplify. Anybody can [simplify]. Our whole infrastructure has been upgraded.
ROBERT REGIS HYLE
CASE FILE
THE PROBLEM
Reinsurer needed to simplify
and secure remote access
for network users.
THE COMPANY
PartnerRe
Web Site: www.partnerre.com
Premiums: $3.6 billion
THE SOLUTION
Secure Enterprise Solution from
Sygate Technologies, Inc.
Web Site: www.sygate.com
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