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Blocking Phishing & Spyware Attacks for Technology Companies
Guide / Case Study
Industry:
Computer Sales
Websense Integration:
Websense Email Security
Computer Sales International Uses Websense to Deter Worldwide Spyware and Phishing Attacks
Overview
Computer Sales
International, one of the world's largest information technology specialists, tries to minimize the risks of having 500 employees worldwide with Internet and email access. Three years ago, CSI installed Websense Web
Security™, which prohibits employees from using company computers to visit adult, hate and other objectionable sites. A year later, the company installed Websense Email Security, which successfully catches
unwanted spam email and other email threats. CSI prides itself on not only providing clients with the latest and best technologies, but following the same practices in-house.
So when new versions of Websense
Web and Email Security became available in 2007, CSI upgraded and found that the products are even more effective at fighting emerging threats—such as spyware and phishing attacks. Websense offered CSI a
unique capability, content filtering in 70 languages, making it valuable for CSI as well as any other multi-national company.
For more than 30 years, Computer Sales International, headquartered in St. Louis,
Mo., has built strong business relationships by customizing information technology leasing solutions for clients.
CSI operates sales offices and subsidiaries in more than 30 locations worldwide,
including the United States, Canada, Germany, Mexico, and Central/South America. CSI believes leasing provides organizations with the ability to more frequently upgrade to better technologies while maintaining a
high degree of flexibility with financial resources.
Three years ago, when CSI officials realized they needed to better harness technology to protect their own company from risks associated with employee
Internet and email use, CSI turned to Websense. Back then, one of the biggest concerns was the liability risk if employees might be exposed to objectionable content on a co-worker's computer. Websense Web Security
helped the company limit employee access to objectionable categories—adult, hate, gambling, etc. A year later, when a rising bombardment of spam started clogging the company's mail servers, CSI installed
Websense Email Security. Websense Email Security flagged and isolated more than half of the company's incoming email and saved the company from having to add or replace overwhelmed email servers.
The problem
Over the past two years, Ed Concannon, CSI's network analyst, has seen a wave of new threats. The staff has spent hours removing spyware from individual computers. Meanwhile, a growing number of employees are
being targeted by phishing attacks––fraudulent emails designed to steal confidential financial data. Spammers have devised increasingly sophisticated methods for circumventing detection.
In
addition to new threats, CSI opened new sales offices and subsidiaries overseas, and some of these locations had unfiltered Internet and email access. Spam, spyware, and phishing attacks know no boundaries. Threats
are global. CSI quickly took steps to extend filtering protection to overseas offices to prevent malicious code from damaging or draining its network and better protect sensitive business information.
The solution
Concannon found that Websense Email Security offered unique protection against phishing, spyware and other fraud by
working in tandem with Websense Web Security. The Email Security leveraged the Websense world-renowned database of categorized Web sites to identify and filter harmful Web links embedded in the text of email
messages. "We check each email now for inappropriate Web sites," Concannon said. "If Websense (formerly SurfControl) Email Security doesn't catch a site, Websense Web Security catches it and blocks it before it's
delivered. Our employees cannot be tricked or enticed to visit harmful sites." Websense Web and Email Security helped CSI better control emerging threats at overseas locations. The Email Security provided heightened
antispam defenses by blocking predefined categories of spam and junk email, examining email for spam characteristics and filtering spam-related key words and phrases.
As a unique feature, Websense technology
filters in 70 languages making it the only filter suitable for global businesses. Websense offered CSI ten new language packs to help customize rules in foreign offices and protect their employees worldwide.
The results
The language pack was useful, for example, in the company's subsidiary in Brazil. The Websense language packs allowed CSI to write new Email Security rules in Portuguese so that confidential data and
objectionable content could be blocked without interfering with the delivery of legitimate, non-confidential, business email. "We're very pleased with how this works, and so is our Brazilian office," Concannon said.
On an average day at CSI, Websense Email Security receives 35,000 connections from the Internet to deliver email. By using the Real Time Blacklist option the filter identifies 27,000 of these as unwanted. This
greatly reduces the number of emails the filter has to process and reduces the load on internal email servers. The company also reduced the risk of employees becoming victims of spyware or phishing. "Websense Web
and Email Security keep minimizing the risks and controlling possible damage," Concannon said. "And the new products work even better."
Our company can help you with any of the following Websense Integrations
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