City of Danville, ILLINOIS Community Government Will Protect its IT Infrastructure with Comodo Endpoint Security

The City of Danville, Illinois, with a population of approximately 33,000 residents, is a community that prides itself on its small-town feel but big city needs. The city boasts a wide range of successful small businesses, from antiques and boutiques to big-box stores, large parks, strong academics, and affordable housing. The IT department for the City of Danville is responsible for safeguarding employment records, city finances, business licenses, and public utilities information. The department also ensures that the city's endpoint computers have instant access to share, build, exchange, and act upon information for the benefit of its residents. Over the years, the city has transitioned to a more digital environment, which has streamlined processes and improved efficiency but also increased the risk of cyber threats. The city has been using Comodo Digital Certificates for over a year and sought to enhance its cybersecurity measures to protect its digital infrastructure.

Today, malware threats are everywhere, every day. Anyone who uses computer technology—a smart phone, desktop, laptop, tablet—for business or personal use can be targeted by the “bad guys” of this world. In the last 12 months, dating back to August of 2014, research estimates that more than 350,000,000 pieces of malware have been designed to hack into infrastructures, steal personal information, financial and corporate records, or simply to plant a virus to cause destruction and chaos. All pieces of malware start out as what can be called unknown files. But with this clear onslaught of millions of pieces of malware each year, the traditional blacklisting of files to keep them away from infecting and breaching the walls of technology infrastructures cannot keep up. Additionally, traditional antivirus solutions focus on detection—not prevention—using default allow technology, which only stops recognized, blacklisted files. So when that one unknown file does not make it to the blacklist in time, it’s allowed to pass right through into a computer network, and the next cyber-attack happens. All it takes is one employee to open one email attachment that was allowed to pass through because it was not recognized as a bad file. Scary. And what can make this even scarier is that malware isn’t discriminatory. It attacks enterprises large and small. It attacks the infrastructures of banks, hospitals, and non-profit organizations, causing millions of dollars in damages. For county governments, the risks are the same as large enterprises or the small business: the need to protect and contain their information.

As the rise of malware increases, the City of Danville pulled a proposal together to increase the cyber-security layers it had on its infrastructure and ensure its data was contained. The City of Danville has been using Comodo Digital Certificates for more than a year, and it immediately sought Comodo as the possible technology partner for them. The City had specific needs in mind: total protection against malware and as much as prevention possible from an attack before it happens, ease of use and installation by a small IT team, while at the same time having little to no impact or intrusion on the IT system’s performance or the users who need to access the information. After evaluating multiple security companies such as Symantec, FireEye, Webroot and Comodo, the City of Danville chose Comodo and its Endpoint Security Manager as the clear leader to address the City’s needs. “We selected Comodo and its Endpoint Security Manager solution because it clearly addresses the problem of malware and cyber-attacks through a unique containment technology. Also, About Comodo its prevention philosophy is different from anything else in the market today,” said DSilva. “Comodo ESM gives our IT team full control over all of our endpoints, allowing for only approved applications to be run, and gives us a remote desktop management and dashboard for simplicity and ease of use, all within our budget.” As of July 2015, the City of Danville has already installed Comodo Endpoint Security Manager (ESM) on some department computers and servers, with full installation expected by the end of July. For IT networks who must prevent data breaches such as the City of Danville, Comodo ESM is the only solution that offers on-device, real-time containment. Unlike legacy approaches such as blacklisting and sandboxing, Comodo endpoint security uses smart filtering to automatically contain and execute unknown files, without negatively impacting the system performance or the user’s productivity. “Running applications in a contained and protected environment without impacting a single user is phenomenal,” DSilva concluded. “We trust Comodo and its endpoint security solution and look forward to a long relationship.

• The City of Danville has successfully installed Comodo Endpoint Security Manager (ESM) on some department computers and servers, with full installation expected by the end of July 2015.
• Comodo ESM provides the IT team with full control over all endpoints, allowing only approved applications to run, and offers remote desktop management and a user-friendly dashboard.
• The solution's smart filtering technology automatically contains and executes unknown files without negatively impacting system performance or user productivity.
• The City of Danville's IT infrastructure now benefits from real-time, on-device containment, preventing data breaches and ensuring the security of sensitive information.
• The partnership with Comodo has enhanced the city's cybersecurity measures, providing peace of mind and a long-term relationship focused on protecting the city's digital assets.

• More than 350,000,000 pieces of malware have been designed to hack into infrastructures in the last 12 months.
• The City of Danville has a population of approximately 33,000 residents.