Improving an expanding customer’s cyber security to address the ever-growing threat, to achieve endpoint visibility and security.
The Customer
The West Group Ltd is a leader in the design and manufacture of Miniature Flow Control components. The group is a £10m company with over 100 employees and are involved in numerous markets such as Medical, Bio-pharm, Analytical, Industrial, Inkjet and Scientific.
The West Group were a leading supplier of essential medical assemblies for The Ventilator Challenge. Companies and government organisations in the UK and abroad have relied upon their components in the fight against COVID-19, making it essential that their employees were able to safely access their network, particularly during the pandemic when most were working from home.
The Challenge
Although SSL VPN (Secure Sockets Layer Virtual Private Network) connections were in-place, they were not always used, especially from offices where a remote desktop Gateway solution was available; and allowed direct access (via the Internet) to key LoB (line of business) applications the business used, mainly systems applications and products (SAP).
With remote workers and multiple office locations, the combination of existing SSL VPN connections not always being used, especially where RD Gateway remote access was available, left the network vulnerable, and with no MFA (Multi-Factor Authentication) in place, the system became a major cyber security concern.
Additionally, due to IT diversity The West Group had little control on the hardware and software that was used at some of the other offices to establish remote connections, obtaining visibility and compliancy of these was a key goal.
The Solution
Security was the driving force for this project – we changed the remote desktop gateway away from being internet facing and ensured all connections were made via the SSL VPN.
We also implemented FortiNet’s Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA) and EMS (endpoint Management Server) – a proven network security solution that enables us to enforce compliancy levels before allowing endpoints to connect and push changes as required as well as perform remote vulnerability scans.
Results
The solution has increased The West Group’s security ten-fold, their connections are no longer exposed and all systems that connect are checked for software compliance with vulnerability and malware scans run, even if the endpoint is a personal computer. This new visibility of endpoints and reporting has enabled us to ensure the standard of connecting systems are identified and corrected if necessary.
Words from The West Group
“Computer Care has been supporting The West Group for over seven years.
I have a fantastic working relationship with Computer Care and have found everyone there very professional, courteous and friendly.
The implementation of the SSL VPN protection with MFA went extremely smoothly. I was informed every step of the way what was needed and, at the end, when it was ready to deploy, I had complete documentation with no surprises or hidden costs. I look forward to another seven years working closely with Computer Care.”
Trevor Todd
Group Systems Administrator
The West Group Shared Service Centre
Get in touch if you’d like to find out more about how we can support and protect your business.