Imperva > Case Studies > Tech Giant Secures Data and Saves $2 Million Annually with IoT Solution

Tech Giant Secures Data and Saves $2 Million Annually with IoT Solution

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Technology Category
  • Application Infrastructure & Middleware - Database Management & Storage
  • Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) - Cloud Databases
Applicable Industries
  • Electronics
  • National Security & Defense
Applicable Functions
  • Quality Assurance
Use Cases
  • Inventory Management
  • Time Sensitive Networking
Services
  • Cybersecurity Services
  • System Integration
About The Customer
The customer is one of the largest computer technology companies in the world, operating in a price-competitive industry with razor-thin margins. The company has over 100,000 employees who develop, manufacture, and service the company’s products worldwide. The company was using IBM Guardium to secure their databases, but the high cost of ownership and operational inefficiencies were proving to be a major hurdle. The company was unable to expand their IBM Guardium deployment beyond the 500 databases it covered due to the overwhelming amount of labor required. This left some critical databases unmonitored, introducing compliance and security risks.
The Challenge
A global computer technology company was facing significant challenges in meeting the criteria for various regulations including the Sarbanes–Oxley Act (SOX), Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI-DSS), and Statement on Auditing Standards No. 70 (SAS 70). The company was using IBM Guardium to secure their databases, but the high cost of ownership and operational inefficiencies were proving to be a major hurdle. The company was unable to expand their IBM Guardium deployment beyond the 500 databases it covered due to the overwhelming amount of labor required. This left some critical databases unmonitored, introducing compliance and security risks. The high labor cost was mainly due to Guardium’s architecture deficiencies, which required a large number of virtual appliances to cover the company’s 500 databases. The volume of virtual appliances made the deployment complicated and costly to operate. Furthermore, Guardium’s integration with the company’s Remedy change ticketing and workflow system was cumbersome, and presented many challenges.
The Solution
The company decided to replace IBM Guardium with Imperva SecureSphere Data Security Suite, to achieve higher levels of compliance and save $1.9M in yearly operational costs. SecureSphere was able to monitor 1,050 of the company's databases with just 65 virtual appliances, a significant reduction from the 135 virtual appliances required by Guardium. This reduction in virtual appliances translated into half as much database auditing infrastructure for the company to manage. Furthermore, with SecureSphere, the company was able to convert a primarily manual change ticketing process into a streamlined automated workflow, by integrating with their Remedy ticketing system. The switch to SecureSphere was completed in just 60 days for the 500 databases that Guardium had been monitoring. Following the success of the initial deployment, the company decided to expand the SecureSphere roll out to a total of 1,050 databases.
Operational Impact
  • The switch to SecureSphere brought about significant operational improvements for the company. The reduction in the number of virtual appliances translated into half as much database auditing infrastructure for the company to manage. This led to a drop in labor cost by over 50% compared with the Guardium deployment. The company was also able to convert a primarily manual change ticketing process into a streamlined automated workflow, by integrating with their Remedy ticketing system. This increased operational efficiency allowed the original team of five full time employees to audit twice as many databases. The operational cost savings enabled the company to compete much more effectively in their industry, which has very thin profit margins.
Quantitative Benefit
  • Lowered operational cost by over 70%
  • Saved the company $1.9M a year in recurring labor and support costs
  • Reduced the number of virtual appliances used by the auditing solution from 135 to 65

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