Case Studies > Absolute Strengthens Asplundh’s Security Posture by Self-Healing Critical Endpoint Applications

Absolute Strengthens Asplundh’s Security Posture by Self-Healing Critical Endpoint Applications

Customer Company Size

Large Corporate

Region

America
Pacific

Country

United States
Canada
Australia
New Zealand

Product

Absolute
Application Persistence by Absolute

Tech Stack

Endpoint Protection
Data Loss Prevention (DLP)
Patch Management

Implementation Scale

Enterprise-wide Deployment

Impact Metrics

Customer Satisfaction
Employee Satisfaction
Productivity Improvements
Brand Awareness

Technology Category

Cybersecurity & Privacy - Endpoint Security
Cybersecurity & Privacy - Security Compliance
Functional Applications - Remote Monitoring & Control Systems

Applicable Industries

Utilities
Transportation

Applicable Functions

Field Services
Maintenance

Use Cases

Remote Asset Management

Services

System Integration
Cybersecurity Services

About The Customer

Founded in 1928, Asplundh is a family-owned and operated corporation headquartered near Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, dedicated to safe, efficient and innovative line clearance services for the utility industry. Diversification over the years has opened up vegetation management services to other specialized markets such as municipalities, railroads, pipelines, and departments of transportation. Asplundh has grown to employ over 30,000 service professionals throughout the United States, Canada, Australia and New Zealand.

The Challenge

With most endpoints off the corporate network on a regular basis, it was difficult for Asplundh to manage and secure their deployment efficiently and ensure endpoint protection at all times. Despite their best intentions, users would unintentionally compromise endpoint security and compliance by either disabling DLP, anti-virus or other security applications or installing incompatible software that would remove corporate protection processes and policies. The impact of just one vulnerable device could severely impact their business. If a criminal targeted an Asplundh vehicle, the device and data was at risk, potentially damaging Asplundh’s brand and resulting in penalties for non-compliance.

The Solution

By activating Absolute on their endpoints and incorporating into their standard device image, Asplundh gained uncompromised visibility of its entire device fleet. Beyond this, they can now make critical security applications self-healing on all endpoints, on and off their network, providing a persistent protection layer that could prevent compromise. As a result, if a negligent user or an external attacker ever tries to disable or remove an application that should be running on the device at all times, such as endpoint protection or DLP, Application Persistence by Absolute will automatically reinstall it to maintain endpoint compliance and data protection. This takes away the human factor and prevents major issues. If a device is stolen on the road, Asplundh’s IT team can now track its location with Absolute and recover it or remotely delete the data for compliance reasons. They can also write scripts or be alerted if something out of the norm is happening. Finally, Absolute makes both hardware and software inventory management much easier for Asplundh, increasing its efficiency and accuracy.

Operational Impact

Several critical security applications such as endpoint protection and patch management are now self-healing on all of Asplundh’s endpoints, so the company stays in compliance at all times.
Regardless of what happens to the device or its location, it can be remotely tracked and wiped to keep data secure and prevent costly penalties or reputation damage.
By removing the human factor in fixing critical applications and receiving notifications when suspicious activity is detected, Asplundh’s IT team is now much more efficient and effective.

Quantitative Benefit