In 2019, Crowder College, a community college in Neosho, Missouri, was hit by a ransomware attack that shut down the college’s email, website, and computer systems. The virus, likely introduced via email, had been dormant in the computer’s system for nearly a year. The college refused to pay the hackers $1.6 million demand, and set to work rebuilding and restoring their systems. Immediately after the ransomware incident, Crowder deployed AppRiver for their email security. However, AppRiver, a Secure Email Gateway (SEG), had limitations. It was not very granular and let a lot of phishing and spam through. Crowder needed a more efficacious solution that wasn’t passive, provided robust security, with better reporting and better customer service.

Wildwood Credit Union had been using Proofpoint for several years and was becoming frustrated. Far too many malicious emails were getting into the inbox. Plus, they felt that the gateway setup was way out-of-date, necessitating a new approach to securing their email. Finally, since protecting personal identifying information is so critical, they needed a far more robust DLP solution. For years, the company used Proofpoint to protect its environment. But after a while, Proofpoint began to disappoint. For one, far too many phishing messages came through to the inbox. That was made worse since the pandemic, since, according to a report, 74% of banks and insurers have experienced a spike in cybercrime since the pandemic. In particular, there has been a 35% increase in phishing, a 35% increase in ransomware, and a 29% increase in internal threats. Wildwood needed a solution that could combat this rise.

New Destination Travel was looking to upgrade its Microsoft ATP environment. They were specifically interested in a higher catch rate of phishing, DLP and full-suite protection. For years, the company relied on Microsoft ATP for security in its Microsoft 365 environment. However, they were troubled by how many phishing attacks reached the inbox. Day after day, a new campaign was visible to users. Beyond that, they needed a better way to search and quarantine or destroy messages. With Microsoft, the process was clunky. As a busy IT admin, Roy needed a simple, fast, and effective solution. Finally, Roy needed a better inbound and outbound DLP solution. As a travel agency, they deal with a lot of credit card numbers to book their customers’ travel. That means they need to be extra careful in ensuring those numbers don’t get into the wrong hands.