Leading Manufacturer Frees Up IT to Strengthen Security With Proofpoint Essentials
The Challenge
- Protect client and company email communications from malware-based threats and phishing
- Minimise manual processes to help make security team more productive
- Empower end users to take more control over their own security
The Solution
- Proofpoint Essentials
The Results
- Email security protects firm from malicious attacks
- 30 to 50% decrease in unwanted emails each month frees security team to focus on other tasks
- Improved accuracy determining which emails have been quarantined
The Challenge
Protecting manufacturing customers and company assets
Like most organisations, the manufacturer considered email security a top priority for safeguarding its business data, as well as its customers. The organisation had been using Symantec Endpoint Protection for a very long time. Its staff were familiar with the system, felt that it did the job, and had spent years building it out to fit their custom needs.
However, Symantec had decided to stop support for their Endpoint Protection on-prem product and had informed the organisation that they would not be renewing their contract. The manufacturer had to research available options; figure out which one would work best for their systems and processes; then implement the product, all in a very short time frame.
The manufacturer was looking for not only a very robust and secure solution, but one that would be easy to use, save time, and cause the least disruption in day-to-day activities. They also needed a solution that could function on-prem, but would allow them to eventually move to the cloud.
The Solution
Advanced email and malware threat protection
Working closely with trusted Proofpoint partner Gotham Technology Group, the manufacturer evaluated a variety of solutions. Gotham was deeply knowledgeable about the organisation’s email infrastructure, and recommended Proofpoint Essentials. Proofpoint Essentials is designed to stop malware-based threats, such as malicious attachments or links, and malware-free threats, including email fraud and credential phishing. It also offered significantly more features than the Symantec offering, at a cost-effective price.
Together, Gotham and the manufacturer deployed Proofpoint Essentials throughout the organisation within two to three weeks. The process included setting up Proofpoint Essentials, creating new policies, cutting over outbound mail, then cutting over inbound mail. The deployment was challenging because the manufacturer operates seven days a week and couldn’t afford any interruptions. But the transition was smooth and straightforward.
As part of the process, the manufacturer initiated cleaning and pruning of their existing rules and policies. This allowed the organisation to remove or revisit some of the older policies that had been in place and get back to basics and function simply again—much like hitting reset on a computer.
The organisation’s partner has provided consistent, responsive support, enabling the manufacturer to realise the full value of its investment.
“Gotham has always been very good at getting back to us when we have any problems,” said the manufacturer. “We implemented Proofpoint nearly a year ago, and we’ve had to call Gotham maybe four or five times. When we did the response was fast and the problem got resolved.”
The Results
Minimising unwanted email and powering staff productivity
Since implementing Proofpoint Essentials, the manufacturer has experienced at least a 30 to 50% decrease in unwanted emails each month. In a recent 30-day period, out of over 45K emails received, 51% were quarantined or blocked, 5% were marked as spam, and 44% were marked as clean and delivered to their recipient. The organisation’s security team has spent less time having to go into the console and manually block items or make other changes. Instead, its end users can handle these tasks on their own.
Proofpoint Essentials has also provided feature improvements that enabled the manufacturer to step up its email protection. The organisation has dramatically improved the accuracy when determining which emails were quarantined, compared to emails that were delivered. For emails that are delivered with embedded links, Proofpoint rewrites the URLs and sandboxes the links until they are deemed safe by the user, further protecting the firm from incidental clicks on malicious links.
Proofpoint Essentials also provides a threat digest that gives users full visibility into what has been blocked, enabling them to take actions on their own to unblock any emails that should have been let through. Unblocking emails was previously a manual process for the security team.
Attachment encryption has also been improved. In the past, the manufacturer employed a manual process for sending encrypted attachments that was prone to mistakes. They can now automate this with a tag in the email subject line, which helps ensure more security and saves time.
This increase in protection and capabilities has given the security team more time to refine their policies. What started as an immediate drop in unwanted emails has continued to improve incrementally over time, as the system gets more intelligent from their continued input.
“Previously, our users might ask a simple question like why they didn’t get a certain email, and work would have to happen behind the scenes to figure it out,” said the manufacturer. “We would have to ask time-consuming questions, like whether the email had made it to our network, passed through the email gateway, and if it was safe to release. With Proofpoint Essentials, securing email is not a treasure hunt anymore. The conversation is past basic tracking questions and is now about what we do with it. Our efforts have become much more fruitful since implementing Proofpoint Essentials.”