Case Studies > Simplified Security and Compliance Monitoring: A Regional Bank Case Study

Simplified Security and Compliance Monitoring: A Regional Bank Case Study

Company Size

200-1,000

Region

America

Country

United States

Product

Catbird
Catbird TrustZones

Tech Stack

Firewall Orchestration
Network Access Control (NAC)
Intrusion Detection and Protection (IDS/IPS)
Net Flow
Vulnerability Monitoring and SCAP Configuration Checks

Implementation Scale

Enterprise-wide Deployment

Impact Metrics

Cost Savings
Customer Satisfaction
Digital Expertise
Productivity Improvements

Technology Category

Cybersecurity & Privacy - Network Security
Cybersecurity & Privacy - Security Compliance
Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) - Cloud Computing

Applicable Industries

Finance & Insurance

Applicable Functions

Business Operation
Facility Management

Services

Cloud Planning, Design & Implementation Services
System Integration

About The Customer

Established in 1874, Thomaston Savings Bank is a community bank with a large presence in northwest Connecticut and New Haven County. Through its 10 branches and 2 business offices, it provides a range of high-quality financial services to customers in the communities in which it does business. The increasing number of news reports about malicious hacks on banks, particularly card processors, had caught the attention of Thomaston. While there had been no successful Thomaston Bank hacks yet, they had seen attempts. The liability and risk associated with such intrusions was not something Thomaston could afford to ignore. Industry figures put a typical audit cost at a minimum $10,000, but an audit after a breach starts at ten times that amount. A bank’s reputation could also be incalculably damaged.

The Challenge

Regional banks must protect millions of dollars in assets, keep costs low, and comply with industry regulations. Thomaston Savings Bank faced increasing cyber threats and needed stronger security protection for their assets, particularly network security. They also confronted issues with power consumption for their servers, blowing circuits, and trouble cooling machines in the data center. To address these challenges, they decided to virtualize many of their servers, necessitating the need for virtualization-aware network security.

The Solution

Thomaston Savings Bank decided to use Catbird® to protect its physical networks from attack. When they learned that Catbird was the industry leader in virtual security and compliance, they were thrilled. Thomaston is now 98% virtualized with Catbird deployed across their data center. Catbird provides the industry’s only fully automated policy orchestration solution for cloud infrastructure. It makes virtualized infrastructure compliance-aware, delivering automated audit and enforcement of policy while providing maximum visibility and control. Catbird secures the cloud by applying elastic policy protection across the network, enabling simplified scope management and cost reduction. Catbird works closely with VMware, Microsoft, and Cisco to improve cloud solutions and protect customer data.

Operational Impact

Patrick Quinn, IT Manager at Thomaston, has been very pleased with Catbird’s performance through the years. He notes that they have more granular control to see what is going on across the network as well as the ability to make quick changes without relying on a vendor.
Quinn particularly appreciates Catbird TrustZones® which prevent unauthorized communication between virtualized servers, irrespective of location. TrustZones groups virtual machines according to a set of policies, then tracks the machines through mobility events while continuing to enforce the established policy.
Prior to installing Catbird, a virus at one of Thomaston’s branches took down teller lines and ATMs at all of their branches. The system was not restored until the next day. Catbird would have isolated the branch and it would not have spread to all other locations. It instantly detects and prevents such a problem.
Catbird provides continuous monitoring of 3rd party standards-based compliance policies, including PCI DSS and GLBA. This ensures that Thomaston can more easily maintain regulatory compliance and pass their audits.

Quantitative Benefit

Thomaston is now 98% virtualized with Catbird deployed across their data center.
Industry figures put a typical audit cost at a minimum $10,000, but an audit after a breach starts at ten times that amount.