Unified Threat Mangement Appliance Secures your Network and increases Employee Productivity
Every day, employees are using work computers and Internet connections for their own amusement. They shop, network, play games, stream multimedia to their workstations, and use P2P applications like BitTorrent. It’s not just a drag on employee productivity. It exposes your company to security threats.
It’s a situation M&O Corp of Stratford knows well. With no Internet access policies on the books, and no automated network observing traffic, there was no attempt to monitor or control Internet use. Not only was this traffic consuming significant network bandwidth, it left M&O’s sensitive data unnecessarily exposed to security risks. In fact, several employees had already been victims of malware and phishing scams.
Emilio Espejo, VP was the company’s de facto network, security and systems administrator, and he found that role claiming more and more of his time. Realizing he had to remain focused on client work, he sought out IT service provider Computer Systems Support & Design (CSSD) to resolve the company’s bandwidth and malware issues.
CSSD installed and configured a Cisco Unified Threat Management (UTM) firewall to monitor use of the company’s network and identify problems. CSSD was able to quickly enable the content and messaging filters that met M&O’s specific needs. For example, CSSD blocked access to online shopping sites – a significant source of spam. M&O Corp also appreciated the flexibility to filter individual sites based on their content.
“That’s a great option, but I can’t possibly know every site out there,” says Espejo. “The UTM firewall allowed me to select categories of content we wanted to block and the device took care of the rest. That’s the type of automation I needed to get the job done.”
Since Computer Systems Support & Design, a Fairfield County, Connecticut based IT Service Provider installed the CISCO UTM firewall, Espejo has noticed a marked improvement in bandwidth and productivity. Download speeds have increased, making it easier to research Heating and Cooling options, collaborate with clients and vendors and conduct other business transactions.
Says Espejo: “We’ve regained control of our network and implemented additional security solutions without adding to any complexity. Which means I can devote more time to our clients.”
