Case Studies > Bank of Marin Gains Detailed Visibility into their Network with AlienVault USM

Bank of Marin Gains Detailed Visibility into their Network with AlienVault USM

Company Size

200-1,000

Region

America

Country

United States

Product

AlienVault USM
Palo Alto
FireEye
Carbon Black

Tech Stack

Host-based Intrusion Detection System (HIDS)
Unified Security Management (USM)
Open Threat Exchange (OTX)

Implementation Scale

Enterprise-wide Deployment

Impact Metrics

Cost Savings
Customer Satisfaction
Productivity Improvements

Technology Category

Cybersecurity & Privacy - Endpoint Security
Cybersecurity & Privacy - Network Security
Cybersecurity & Privacy - Security Compliance

Applicable Industries

Finance & Insurance

Applicable Functions

Business Operation

Use Cases

Intrusion Detection Systems

Services

System Integration
Training

About The Customer

Bank of Marin is a leading business and community bank in the San Francisco Bay Area with assets of over $1.9 billion. Founded in 1989 and headquartered in Novato, CA, Bank of Marin has 21 offices located in San Francisco, Marin, Napa, Sonoma, and Alameda counties. The bank provides business and personal banking, commercial lending, and wealth management and trust services. With an employee count of 201-500, Bank of Marin is dedicated to serving the financial needs of its community and businesses, offering a range of services that cater to both personal and commercial clients.

The Challenge

In early 2015, Bank of Marin’s Security team was looking to increase visibility into their network by adding a Host-based Intrusion Detection System to their existing security program. Over the course of their search, they evaluated a number of popular vendors such as Palo Alto, FireEye, and Carbon Black. Although each of these products seemed capable of meeting Bank of Marin’s need for a HIDS security layer, the team found that the cost of each was too high to justify implementation. Jeff Dalton, the Information Security Officer at Bank of Marin, was in search of a more affordable product. He spoke with a few members of his CISO group, and they recommended that he check out AlienVault’s Unified Security Management (USM) platform. When he did, he realized that USM includes HIDS plus much more than he expected.

The Solution

After speaking with a few AlienVault account reps and exhaustively researching competitive security products, the Bank of Marin team decided to move ahead with implementing USM, confident that it was a cost-effective solution that would meet their HIDS needs and also provide many additional capabilities. When Bank of Marin acquired USM, they also purchased the five-day AlienVault beginner’s training course. Jeff found this training to be a huge help in jumpstarting the install of the product and allowing him to take advantage of the product’s features immediately. Since purchasing AlienVault USM and incorporating it into his existing security system, Jeff says that he has successfully increased visibility into his network and also addressed Bank of Marin’s missing HIDS security layer. When researching anomalies at Bank of Marin, Jeff relies on AlienVault’s global open threat intelligence sharing community, the Open Threat Exchange (OTX). He said that although he hasn’t found too many malicious events yet, the information that OTX provides about USM alerts is very useful.

Operational Impact

AlienVault USM’s HIDS functionality allows Bank of Marin greater visibility into activity on their network.
Although Bank of Marin was only in the market for a HIDS solution, they were pleased to find AlienVault USM is actually five security products in one.
During busy retail months, Bank of Marin saves a large amount of time researching threats because of AlienVault USM’s functionality.
Before using AlienVault USM, Bank of Marin was spending a large amount of time having to monitor the increased number of transactions during high retail sales months. However, with USM, they’ve found it much easier to be alerted and be provided with detailed information on anomalies that occur, saving them time from having to manually dig into data and ensuring the environment is safe.
Overall, Jeff has found that AlienVault USM has performed head and shoulders over the competition because of its rich functionality, low cost, and ease of use, greatly improving the efficiency of his small security team.

Quantitative Benefit