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BACKGROUND
Eastern Utah Community Credit Union is a member-driven financial institution that is committed to providing low-cost banking, loan, mortgage and credit card services, online and from four local branches, to members who live, work or have businesses in five Utah counties.
GRADUATING TO ISOLATION’S NEXT GENERATION
EUCCU’s Information Technology Officer, Cole Clarke, CISSP, is a knowledgeable proponent of remote browser isolation technology for all organizations. “I have the same concerns as anyone has who is responsible for defending any network, with the biggest concerns being about internet interactions and email. But as a financial institution, we can’t say, ‘Well, maybe we’ll take a little more risk with that.’ We can’t. We’ve got to make sure that those things are protected.”
As an early adopter of internet isolation and an experienced solution administrator, Mr. Clarke had a clear picture of what he wanted when it was time to renew EUCCU’s previous isolation platform. Following acquisition of the platform by a new provider, however, technology development had slowed and service suffered. EUCCU was no longer getting either the service or the product that it needed.
Mr. Clarke wanted a forward-looking, secure solution that was designed to work with the credit union’s updated infrastructure and would continue to work with emerging cloud infrastructures as well. Beyond technical considerations, he was extremely aware of the importance of user experience. “Users are always negative when they know I am making a change. If new solutions don’t work smoothly when we push them out, people get a negative opinion of them. I try to keep them as positive as possible, by choosing solutions that align with our workflow and enhance user productivity.”
Most of the internet isolation solutions that Mr. Clarke investigated simply did not deliver the level of performance he required. They rendered content poorly or in some cases, only partially. In addition, users could not use the browsers they liked, but instead were restricted to a solutionspecific browser. As a result, said Mr. Clarke, “the interface felt weird.”
THE SOLUTION: ERICOM SHIELD
While researching alternative solutions, Cole Clarke discovered a review that gave Ericom Shield high marks for secure browsing. He was particularly impressed by the seamless, natural browsing experience that it offers, the ability to restrict secure browsing to uncategorized sites, and the excellent documentation provided on the Ericom site.
Using Ericom Shield’s simple and intuitive management interface, EUCCU easily whitelisted well-known banking and lending sites that are directly business-related and have good reputations, since they can be relied on to have excellent security. And sites categorized as risky by the company’s Fortinet firewall are entirely blacklisted.
While the credit union has a policy of not using the internet for anything other than business reasons, a lot of business reasons put users into gray areas. IT staff uses the Internet to research coding and security. Financial people need to research rates, interact with other financial institutions, and get other information they need for their jobs. That’s where Shield comes into play.
“The reason for wanting Ericom Shield is so that we can stay safe but still allow the flexibility for people to get their work done and do research, versus having to lock down the firewall tight,” said Mr. Clarke. “I can rely on Ericom Shield to keep the credit union secure and still allow people the flexibility to get their jobs done.”
EUCCU users are also pleased with Ericom Shield – when they notice it at all. Mr. Clarke reports that they like it way better than the previous solution. In fact, he added the word “Shield” to their browser tabs so they would know when they are on a site that is Shielded – otherwise they can’t tell the difference from when they browse whitelisted sites.
Said Mr. Clarke, “I’d say this is a very successful implementation. I’ve put in a lot of different systems. Installation and setup of Ericom Shield was super easy, even setting up the Kerberos authentication. Integration with our security stack was smooth. The management interface is great and easy to learn. And the documentation on Ericom’s website is excellent. Support was wonderful too. Whenever I needed more help they always had the answers.”
RESULTS
In the words of Cole Clarke, “Ericom Shield does what it’s supposed to do. I really have no complaints about it at all. It’s doing just what I need it to do.”
GRADUATING TO ISOLATION’S NEXT GENERATION
EUCCU’s Information Technology Officer, Cole Clarke, CISSP, is a knowledgeable proponent of remote browser isolation technology for all organizations. “I have the same concerns as anyone has who is responsible for defending any network, with the biggest concerns being about internet interactions and email. But as a financial institution, we can’t say, ‘Well, maybe we’ll take a little more risk with that.’ We can’t. We’ve got to make sure that those things are protected.”
As an early adopter of internet isolation and an experienced solution administrator, Mr. Clarke had a clear picture of what he wanted when it was time to renew EUCCU’s previous isolation platform. Following acquisition of the platform by a new provider, however, technology development had slowed and service suffered. EUCCU was no longer getting either the service or the product that it needed.
Mr. Clarke wanted a forward-looking, secure solution that was designed to work with the credit union’s updated infrastructure and would continue to work with emerging cloud infrastructures as well. Beyond technical considerations, he was extremely aware of the importance of user experience. “Users are always negative when they know I am making a change. If new solutions don’t work smoothly when we push them out, people get a negative opinion of them. I try to keep them as positive as possible, by choosing solutions that align with our workflow and enhance user productivity.”
Most of the internet isolation solutions that Mr. Clarke investigated simply did not deliver the level of performance he required. They rendered content poorly or in some cases, only partially. In addition, users could not use the browsers they liked, but instead were restricted to a solutionspecific browser. As a result, said Mr. Clarke, “the interface felt weird.”
THE SOLUTION: ERICOM SHIELD
While researching alternative solutions, Cole Clarke discovered a review that gave Ericom Shield high marks for secure browsing. He was particularly impressed by the seamless, natural browsing experience that it offers, the ability to restrict secure browsing to uncategorized sites, and the excellent documentation provided on the Ericom site.
Using Ericom Shield’s simple and intuitive management interface, EUCCU easily whitelisted well-known banking and lending sites that are directly business-related and have good reputations, since they can be relied on to have excellent security. And sites categorized as risky by the company’s Fortinet firewall are entirely blacklisted.
While the credit union has a policy of not using the internet for anything other than business reasons, a lot of business reasons put users into gray areas. IT staff uses the Internet to research coding and security. Financial people need to research rates, interact with other financial institutions, and get other information they need for their jobs. That’s where Shield comes into play.
“The reason for wanting Ericom Shield is so that we can stay safe but still allow the flexibility for people to get their work done and do research, versus having to lock down the firewall tight,” said Mr. Clarke. “I can rely on Ericom Shield to keep the credit union secure and still allow people the flexibility to get their jobs done.”
EUCCU users are also pleased with Ericom Shield – when they notice it at all. Mr. Clarke reports that they like it way better than the previous solution. In fact, he added the word “Shield” to their browser tabs so they would know when they are on a site that is Shielded – otherwise they can’t tell the difference from when they browse whitelisted sites.
Said Mr. Clarke, “I’d say this is a very successful implementation. I’ve put in a lot of different systems. Installation and setup of Ericom Shield was super easy, even setting up the Kerberos authentication. Integration with our security stack was smooth. The management interface is great and easy to learn. And the documentation on Ericom’s website is excellent. Support was wonderful too. Whenever I needed more help they always had the answers.”
RESULTS
In the words of Cole Clarke, “Ericom Shield does what it’s supposed to do. I really have no complaints about it at all. It’s doing just what I need it to do.”
INTERNET SEPARATION THAT ALLOWS INTERNET USE
Internet separation is an extremely effective cybersecurity measure that is used widely in Japan. However, many internet separation solutions can substantially limit user productivity by restricting access to critical web-based applications and resources.
Since 2016, OCE has helped many local governments separate their internal networks from the internet to improve municipal information system security. Following Japan’s Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science, and Technology issuance of education information security policy guidelines, Boards of Education have begun seeking internet separation solutions. More recently, interest has grown among other government organizations and contractors that do business with local governments.
Healthcare organizations, which have always separated medical service systems from the internet, are now embracing the concept of secure browsing as well in order to beef up their cybersecurity strategy. Demand for secure browsing is also growing from companies that handle large amounts of personal information as part of routine business operations.
In response to growing demand, OCE sought a solution that would allow them to isolate client networks from web-borne threats, while still enabling end users to leverage the internet-based applications and services they need in order to do their jobs.
“Internet separation is an extremely effective way to block cyberattacks, as it eliminates a major attack vector that could otherwise be used to breach the organization’s network. As such, it seems clear that internet separation will continue to expand to additional industries,” explained Kurayoshi Nakao, Chief of Data Center Promotion Section at OCE. “We needed a solution that would allow us to deliver a secure browsing service that could flexibly address each client’s unique needs and environment.”
THE SOLUTION: CLOUD-HOSTED SECURE BROWSING POWERED BY ERICOM SHIELD
OCE evaluated several internet separation offerings, including VDI- and RDS-based solutions, but found that none offered the performance, features and ease of use they were looking for. After careful research, OCE selected Ericom Shield as the core element of their cloud-hosted secure browsing service. “All of the other products we looked at lacked a decisive advantage, but when I found Ericom Shield I thought, ‘This is just what I’ve been looking for!’,” commented Takurou Yashima of OCE’s Data Center Management Department.
Yashima cited the following advantages of Ericom Shield:
RESULTS
OCE is the first Japanese company to deliver Ericom Shield as a service, which they refer to as their Secure Browsing Service. The superior performance and features of Ericom Shield, the simplicity of implementing the cloud-hosted service, and OCE’s customer-centric approach have all contributed to differentiate OCE from the competition, helping them gain customers’ trust and win new business.
Since 2016, OCE has helped many local governments separate their internal networks from the internet to improve municipal information system security. Following Japan’s Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science, and Technology issuance of education information security policy guidelines, Boards of Education have begun seeking internet separation solutions. More recently, interest has grown among other government organizations and contractors that do business with local governments.
Healthcare organizations, which have always separated medical service systems from the internet, are now embracing the concept of secure browsing as well in order to beef up their cybersecurity strategy. Demand for secure browsing is also growing from companies that handle large amounts of personal information as part of routine business operations.
In response to growing demand, OCE sought a solution that would allow them to isolate client networks from web-borne threats, while still enabling end users to leverage the internet-based applications and services they need in order to do their jobs.
“Internet separation is an extremely effective way to block cyberattacks, as it eliminates a major attack vector that could otherwise be used to breach the organization’s network. As such, it seems clear that internet separation will continue to expand to additional industries,” explained Kurayoshi Nakao, Chief of Data Center Promotion Section at OCE. “We needed a solution that would allow us to deliver a secure browsing service that could flexibly address each client’s unique needs and environment.”
THE SOLUTION: CLOUD-HOSTED SECURE BROWSING POWERED BY ERICOM SHIELD
OCE evaluated several internet separation offerings, including VDI- and RDS-based solutions, but found that none offered the performance, features and ease of use they were looking for. After careful research, OCE selected Ericom Shield as the core element of their cloud-hosted secure browsing service. “All of the other products we looked at lacked a decisive advantage, but when I found Ericom Shield I thought, ‘This is just what I’ve been looking for!’,” commented Takurou Yashima of OCE’s Data Center Management Department.
Yashima cited the following advantages of Ericom Shield:
- Absolutely no web page source code is executed on the endpoint, eliminating the threat of malware infection. Instead, only a safe media stream is delivered to client PCs. This point is both extremely simple and extremely important, and our customers grasp the benefit immediately.
- Through fully integrated content disarm and reconstruction (CDR) functionality, files can be scanned and thoroughly cleansed prior to download without changing the file format, ensuring all essential functionality remains intact.
- No endpoint installation is required, making deployment fast and easy. New clients can simply redirect web traffic from their onpremise proxy server to one of the OCE Desktop as a Service’ global addresses, open a port for Ericom Shield to connect through their firewall, and install a dedicated certificate to enable SSL communication with the endpoint. That’s it!
RESULTS
OCE is the first Japanese company to deliver Ericom Shield as a service, which they refer to as their Secure Browsing Service. The superior performance and features of Ericom Shield, the simplicity of implementing the cloud-hosted service, and OCE’s customer-centric approach have all contributed to differentiate OCE from the competition, helping them gain customers’ trust and win new business.
BACKGROUND
ALYN Hospital is one of the world’s leading facilities for active and intensive rehabilitation of children with physical, respiratory and developmental disabilities. The hospital provides inpatient and outpatient rehabilitation services through a wide range of multidisciplinary clinics and support programs. As a highly specialized tertiary care center, ALYN treats children from a wide geographic area.
TECHNOLOGY IN THE SERVICE OF REHABILITATION
ALYN’s medical teams and therapists are experts at leveraging technology to maximize patients’ capabilities, social integration and overall well-being. In keeping with this collaborative, technology-forward approach, all medical records are digital; medical staff and therapists use web-based resources extensively; patient teams collaborate with primary medical teams, families and teachers in remote locations via web technologies; and centralized systems enable staff to access patient data from any device or location.
“ALYN professionals closely coordinate at every step with patients’ primary physicians and therapists, so sharing patient data with third parties is essential,” explained Dr. Maurit Beeri, Director General of ALYN. “Our physiotherapists, occupational therapists, speech therapists, psychologists, social workers, nurses and doctors use the Web constantly, for research, to access resources for patients, and to update patients’ families, teachers and local medical teams.”
ALYN’s small, but highly skilled and dedicated IT team is completing deployment of an entirely new hospital system that integrates highly advanced web infrastructure – cluster and data duplication, disaster recovery, application firewalls, NAC protection, endpoint protection and malware detection, WAF, and email traffic protection and sanitization.
SECURITY FIRST
Technology contributes immeasurably to patient care, but also places ALYN at risk of cyberattacks – risk that Uri Inbar, Director of IT, is adamant to guard against: “ALYN Hospital has zero tolerance for malicious attacks that can cripple hospital systems, threaten patient wellbeing, and expose private information. It’s crucial for us to have all relevant protective layers against cyberattacks and other disasters, well beyond those required for our ISO certification.”
Wary of the unending cat-and-mouse games between hackers and “patchers,” which too often allow room for zero-day threats and malware to sneak in under the radar, ALYN’s IT department initially blacklisted large swathes of the Web, and set up isolated workstations which could be used to access Web-based content received from remote colleagues.
THE CONVENIENCE CONUNDRUM
ALYN doctors, nurses and therapists literally wear running shoes to get through their days. With a patient population of children who are seriously ill or disabled, caregivers have no time – and less patience -- to struggle with inconvenient security barriers.
“We need a solution that works seamlessly for every member of our staff, on every device and every operating system they might use, from wherever they are, with absolutely no hassle,” explained Inbar.
ALYN needed a secure browsing solution that would protect against browser-borne threats, while providing a completely natural, high quality Internet browsing experience.
THE SOLUTION
“Web isolation and file sanitization were the final missing pieces of our defense-in-depth puzzle,” stated Inbar. “We were searching for a solution that would integrate smoothly and seamlessly with existing ALYN security solutions, support group-based policy definition for users and domains, and be centrally managed.
Ericom Shield ticked all those boxes, and is preintegrated with Votiro file sanitization.”
Based on a detectionless, patch-free approach to secure browsing, Ericom Shield brings a powerful layer of protection to ALYN’s existing cybersecurity portfolio. It dramatically reduces the risk of malware infiltrating ALYN endpoints and network via browser-executable code that can slip past defensive cybersecurity solutions.
The solution is transparent to ALYN users, who use the Internet as usual, on any device and browser they choose, in every treatment room, with almost no degradation in performance.
While users experience websites naturally, on their device browsers, each browsing sessions is actually executed on a remote virtual browser that is isolated in a disposable container, located in a remote “safe zone” of the ALYN network DMZ. Far from the endpoint device, the session is rendered in real time and streamed to the user’s local browser. A new container is allocated for every remote browsing session and tab, and discarded once that session or tab is closed to prevent accidental leakage.
Browser-executable code, including malware, never reaches the endpoint, yet the user browsing experience is completely secure and totally seamless. In addition, ALYN’s IT staff have consistent, centrally managed control over file download and upload permissions based on Active Directory users and groups, while ensuring that downloaded files are automatically cleansed before use.
Ease of use is important not only for the medical staff: With over 200 fixed stations and 50 mobile devices – many of which reside in the 380 users’ pockets -- IT administrators needed a centrally managed solution that would be quick to set up and easy to manage. Ericom Shield requires no endpoint installation and is compatible with all devices and operating systems.
Within less than two hours, Ericom Shield was fully integrated with ALYN’s existing security frameworks, including anti-virus solution, endpoint security, firewall, URL filtering and file sanitization solutions. As a centrally managed, client-based solution, Ericom Shield inherited existing ALYN organizational policies and Active Directory settings, and no installation was needed on user devices, enabling full testing and roll-out to be completed in weeks.
THE IMPACT
“Ericom Shield is crucial for our work at ALYN,” said Dr. Maurit Beeri, Director General of ALYN. “The ability to access any site from any computer or tablet, and download any file without putting our network at risk, increases staff productivity and allows us to provide the best care for our patients.”
“With Ericom Shield, we feel much more confident with users accessing the black pit that the web is today, since we know that every bit of code is executed only remote from our endpoint is executed only remote from our endpoint and networks, and cleared even from there within minutes,” said Uri Inbar.
CONCLUSION
As a premier rehabilitation hospital for children, ALYN depends on the most advanced technology to maximize the potential and well-being of the kids in their care. Ericom is proud to provide equally cutting-edge technology to enable the professionals who do this outstanding work to securely and easily leverage the digital resources they need to get the job done.
TECHNOLOGY IN THE SERVICE OF REHABILITATION
ALYN’s medical teams and therapists are experts at leveraging technology to maximize patients’ capabilities, social integration and overall well-being. In keeping with this collaborative, technology-forward approach, all medical records are digital; medical staff and therapists use web-based resources extensively; patient teams collaborate with primary medical teams, families and teachers in remote locations via web technologies; and centralized systems enable staff to access patient data from any device or location.
“ALYN professionals closely coordinate at every step with patients’ primary physicians and therapists, so sharing patient data with third parties is essential,” explained Dr. Maurit Beeri, Director General of ALYN. “Our physiotherapists, occupational therapists, speech therapists, psychologists, social workers, nurses and doctors use the Web constantly, for research, to access resources for patients, and to update patients’ families, teachers and local medical teams.”
ALYN’s small, but highly skilled and dedicated IT team is completing deployment of an entirely new hospital system that integrates highly advanced web infrastructure – cluster and data duplication, disaster recovery, application firewalls, NAC protection, endpoint protection and malware detection, WAF, and email traffic protection and sanitization.
SECURITY FIRST
Technology contributes immeasurably to patient care, but also places ALYN at risk of cyberattacks – risk that Uri Inbar, Director of IT, is adamant to guard against: “ALYN Hospital has zero tolerance for malicious attacks that can cripple hospital systems, threaten patient wellbeing, and expose private information. It’s crucial for us to have all relevant protective layers against cyberattacks and other disasters, well beyond those required for our ISO certification.”
Wary of the unending cat-and-mouse games between hackers and “patchers,” which too often allow room for zero-day threats and malware to sneak in under the radar, ALYN’s IT department initially blacklisted large swathes of the Web, and set up isolated workstations which could be used to access Web-based content received from remote colleagues.
THE CONVENIENCE CONUNDRUM
ALYN doctors, nurses and therapists literally wear running shoes to get through their days. With a patient population of children who are seriously ill or disabled, caregivers have no time – and less patience -- to struggle with inconvenient security barriers.
“We need a solution that works seamlessly for every member of our staff, on every device and every operating system they might use, from wherever they are, with absolutely no hassle,” explained Inbar.
ALYN needed a secure browsing solution that would protect against browser-borne threats, while providing a completely natural, high quality Internet browsing experience.
THE SOLUTION
“Web isolation and file sanitization were the final missing pieces of our defense-in-depth puzzle,” stated Inbar. “We were searching for a solution that would integrate smoothly and seamlessly with existing ALYN security solutions, support group-based policy definition for users and domains, and be centrally managed.
Ericom Shield ticked all those boxes, and is preintegrated with Votiro file sanitization.”
Based on a detectionless, patch-free approach to secure browsing, Ericom Shield brings a powerful layer of protection to ALYN’s existing cybersecurity portfolio. It dramatically reduces the risk of malware infiltrating ALYN endpoints and network via browser-executable code that can slip past defensive cybersecurity solutions.
The solution is transparent to ALYN users, who use the Internet as usual, on any device and browser they choose, in every treatment room, with almost no degradation in performance.
While users experience websites naturally, on their device browsers, each browsing sessions is actually executed on a remote virtual browser that is isolated in a disposable container, located in a remote “safe zone” of the ALYN network DMZ. Far from the endpoint device, the session is rendered in real time and streamed to the user’s local browser. A new container is allocated for every remote browsing session and tab, and discarded once that session or tab is closed to prevent accidental leakage.
Browser-executable code, including malware, never reaches the endpoint, yet the user browsing experience is completely secure and totally seamless. In addition, ALYN’s IT staff have consistent, centrally managed control over file download and upload permissions based on Active Directory users and groups, while ensuring that downloaded files are automatically cleansed before use.
Ease of use is important not only for the medical staff: With over 200 fixed stations and 50 mobile devices – many of which reside in the 380 users’ pockets -- IT administrators needed a centrally managed solution that would be quick to set up and easy to manage. Ericom Shield requires no endpoint installation and is compatible with all devices and operating systems.
Within less than two hours, Ericom Shield was fully integrated with ALYN’s existing security frameworks, including anti-virus solution, endpoint security, firewall, URL filtering and file sanitization solutions. As a centrally managed, client-based solution, Ericom Shield inherited existing ALYN organizational policies and Active Directory settings, and no installation was needed on user devices, enabling full testing and roll-out to be completed in weeks.
THE IMPACT
“Ericom Shield is crucial for our work at ALYN,” said Dr. Maurit Beeri, Director General of ALYN. “The ability to access any site from any computer or tablet, and download any file without putting our network at risk, increases staff productivity and allows us to provide the best care for our patients.”
“With Ericom Shield, we feel much more confident with users accessing the black pit that the web is today, since we know that every bit of code is executed only remote from our endpoint is executed only remote from our endpoint and networks, and cleared even from there within minutes,” said Uri Inbar.
CONCLUSION
As a premier rehabilitation hospital for children, ALYN depends on the most advanced technology to maximize the potential and well-being of the kids in their care. Ericom is proud to provide equally cutting-edge technology to enable the professionals who do this outstanding work to securely and easily leverage the digital resources they need to get the job done.