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BeyondTrust > Case Studies > Embracing Technical & Business Leadership to Bolster Enterprise-Wide Security
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Embracing Technical & Business Leadership to Bolster Enterprise-Wide Security

Technology Category
  • Cybersecurity & Privacy - Cloud Security
  • Cybersecurity & Privacy - Network Security
  • Cybersecurity & Privacy - Security Compliance
Applicable Industries
  • Finance & Insurance
Applicable Functions
  • Discrete Manufacturing
  • Maintenance
Use Cases
  • Cybersecurity
  • Infrastructure Inspection
  • Regulatory Compliance Monitoring
Services
  • Cloud Planning, Design & Implementation Services
  • Cybersecurity Services
  • System Integration
The Challenge
The article discusses the challenges faced by organizations in securing their infrastructure from cyber threats. These threats can come from various sources, including criminals infecting networks with ransomware, hacktivists making political statements, careless mistakes by insiders, or ethical hackers compromising poorly defended infrastructure. Many companies take a lax approach to cybersecurity, either thinking they will never be breached or worrying that it's too expensive and will slow down their operations. Resistance to change associated with additional security controls and monitoring is common. Another hurdle is integration, with organizations often dealing with third-party apps, in-house customizations and software, on-site operating systems like UNIX, Linux, Windows, and OSX, and off-prem cloud-based apps that run on AWS and Google Cloud.
About The Customer
The customer in this case study is a Fortune 100 financial services company. This major player has over 90,000 people, including employees and contractors. The company's infrastructure includes more than 50,000 servers and over 80,000 end-user workstations. In 2007, an audit revealed that the company was not adequately logging privileged activities on their critical systems, which led them to start looking at various solutions on the market. The company decided to acquire Symark’s PowerBroker as a solution and in 2008, the author of the article accepted an employee position in the company’s IT security group.
The Solution
The solution proposed in the article is Privileged Access Management (PAM), a flattened approach to cybersecurity that simplifies and centralizes the way permissions are granted to IT assets. The author argues that PAM can protect organizations from 90% of cyber threats. The Fortune 100 financial services company adopted this approach to cybersecurity. They acquired Symark’s PowerBroker and later BeyondTrust’s Endpoint Privilege Management, which integrates with Active Directory to create a single touchpoint for managing privilege and access permissions. This approach reduces complexity and eliminates many redundancies, thus lowering costs and streamlining the user experience. The company also leveraged BeyondTrust’s Active Directory Bridge, which allowed them to integrate their UNIX/Linux PowerBroker policy with their directory and Identity and Access Governance platforms.
Operational Impact
  • The adoption of PAM eliminated probably 90% of the company's security risks.
  • The use of BeyondTrust’s Endpoint Privilege Management reduced complexity and eliminated many redundancies, thus lowering costs and streamlining the user experience.
  • The integration of BeyondTrust’s Active Directory Bridge with the company's UNIX/Linux PowerBroker policy enhanced innovation and reduced the delivery time of new security enhancements.
Quantitative Benefit
  • The company achieved full enterprise coverage in about eight years.
  • The ratio of servers to admins in the company is something like 30,000:1, demonstrating the scalability of the solution.

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