Student Data protected by Palo Alto
Wellington College Protects Student Data and Controls Internet Applications with Palo Alto Networks Next Generation Firewalls Increased visibility and control of evasive applications helps prestigious college to balance Internet freedom with well-managed security risks Wellington College,
the prestigious 150-year old educational institution founded by Queen Victoria in 1859, has selected Palo Alto Networks next-generation firewalls to strengthen the security of its network infrastructure, which supports more than 1,000 students, faculty, and staff members. The PA-2000 Series firewalls enable the college to realise visibility and control of high-risk, unauthorised applications on the network, which hereto were being overlooked by more outdated and cumbersome defence methods.
“We looked for a solution which would prevent students using anonymous proxies such as Tor to by-pass our security systems,” explains Tony Whelton, Director of IT development and services for Wellington College. “After investigating several technologies, the Palo Alto Networks firewall provided a much better fit for the needs of the college by combining application visibility and control with intrusion prevention in one solution.”
Since installation of the Palo Alto Networks firewall, Whelton stated. “Palo Alto with Synetix Solutions delivered a smooth implementation and we are already able to quickly block unauthorized traffic across our network without any additional management overhead or performance limitations – it is a very simple solution to a long standing and growing problem.”
Palo Alto Networks firewalls enable visibility and policy control of more than 800 applications running on enterprise networks by accurately identifying applications – regardless of port, protocol, evasive tactic or even SSL encryption – at 10Gbps with no performance degradation. The firewall can also integrate with Active Directory to identify specific users, and automatically scans applications to remove potential threats.
“We are seeing tremendous interest despite being fairly new in the UK, so it’s pleasing to get such a prestige customer in so short a time,” said Karl Driesen, Palo Alto Networks vice president of sales, EMEA. “The positive comments from Wellington are consistent with the feedback from our other customers because we are delivering a set of capabilities around application visibility, identity and content control that you simply cannot find in any other enterprise firewall.”
“Wellington is typical of a growing number of institutions and enterprise customers that realise that the new generation of users are utilising a new generation of applications and tools,” Driesen continued. “Current defences are either redundant or cumbersome. Palo Alto Networks has anticipated this with a range of next-generation firewalls that use application visibility, user identity and content control in a high-performing platform to provide customers with the right balance of Internet user freedom with corporate control – in effect loosening control without losing control.”
Palo Alto Networks announces Wellington College as a customer in partnership with Synetix Solutions Ltd, the Farnham-based IT Services and Security Integrator, and one of Palo Alto Networks’ first Value Added Resellers in the UK.
