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 The
Company Transkaryotic Therapies, Inc. (TKT) fights a battle
against rare diseases every day. The global biopharmaceutical
company currently markets the drug Replagal™, which is used
in the treatment of Fabry disease. With a market capitalization
greater than $1.1 billion and 400 employees located in Massachusetts,
the UK, Canada, South America, and Sweden, the fight against
data loss is one TKT cannot afford to lose.
The Need:
“Although we are not aware of a specific instance of data
loss via USB ports, we certainly recognize the risks,” says
Bob Litterer, Information Security Manager for TKT. “After running
a preliminary scan of our network using Safend’s USB Auditor
we decided to be proactive and eliminate what could be a potential
problem. My two areas of concern are the connections of unauthorized
USB devices and the use of a rogue wireless device such as a
wireless router. That’s what keeps me up at night.”
Understandable, given that data theft cost U.S. corporations
more than $50B in 2004 . With this trend, enterprise customers
are becoming increasingly concerned with the security of their
assets. The proliferation of products using USB, FireWire, Bluetooth
and other protocols allows unauthorized devices easy access
to enterprise PCs. The increasing popularity and expanding storage
capabilities of devices such as Disk on Keys and iPods takes
visibility and control away from network administrators, leaving
data vulnerable to two distinct threats: information leakage
and targeted attacks.
As part of its information security policy, TKT decided to
restrict the use of removable storage devices, authorizing only
specific encrypted drives that the IT department would issue
to employees. Difficulty in enforcing this policy became apparent
as soon as the new drives were procured. The company needed
a high-quality, scalable solution that would control USB devices
without shutting down USB ports entirely – that would be just
too high a productivity price to pay. “We use an approved USB
mass storage device with data encryption,” comments Litterer.
“We needed to be able to utilize that system.” Another requirement
was integration with Microsoft Windows 2000 Active Directory
back office and the capability of supporting desktop clients
running Windows XP. TKT’s objective was to deploy software that
would silently install on all workstations throughout the enterprise
without causing any reboots or blue screens. The inability of
end-users to remove the software or shut down the service was
of prime importance.
The Solution:
Litterer chose Safend’s USB Port Protector solution and USB
Auditor after researching several products in the security software
market. “Safend’s USB Port Protector and Auditor combo was the
first I ran across that had everything we needed,” he says.
“We’re able to scan and approve or restrict whatever we want
and we’ve never had a legitimate device disabled.” The USB Port
Protector enables IT administrators to design and implement
an enterprise-wide security policy regulating which USB devices
are connected to laptop and desktop computers. By analyzing
drivers, unique device identifiers, and packet flows between
an individual computer and a peripheral device, the USB Port
Protector can accurately determine the class, vendor, and model
of the device. This level of granularity gives the administrator
tremendous flexibility in assigning different levels of connectivity
rights to various user groups and minimizes the likelihood that
end-users are able to circumvent corporate policy. Litterer
concurs, “It would be very difficult for even advanced end-users
to remove or tamper with the software.”
The USB Auditor allows Litterer and his team to immediately
access data identifying who and what is connected at each USB
port within the organization. This data can then be used to
create a report displaying the USB devices currently connected
to enterprise endpoints as well as those that were recently
connected. USB Auditor can export this report to an MS Excel
file pre-configured with the most commonly used queries. An
added benefit is that USB Auditor is a non-intrusive and clientless
software solution. “The latest version of USB Auditor made deployment
of our security policies very easy. Roll-out was painless,”
he says.
Final Analysis:
The TKT information security team found Safend’s Port Protector
easy to install and deploy using Microsoft’s Active Directory.
Litterer states, “If your Active Directory is in good shape,
installation is a breeze.” The company now has visibility and
control over all its endpoints and is so pleased with the strength
of Safend’s product policies that it has joined Safend’s Design
Partner Program. In this capacity, TKT will provide useful suggestions
and customer perspectives on Safend’s future product designs,
product performance and feature updates. Litterer chuckles,
“The only complaint we’ve had so far is from end-users who can’t
use some of the devices they’d like. That just tells me the
product is working.” “Securing intellectual property during
the product development stage is critical for our customer's
long term success,” said Dor Skuler, Vice President of Business
Development for Safend. “We’re pleased that TKT recognizes the
unique solutions Safend offers and shares our vision of endpoint
security.”
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Safend
Case Study: Transkaryotic Therapies, Inc.