IoD consoldates security on single server

The Institute of Directors (IoD) has reduced its IT management overheads by consolidating its security infrastructure onto a single server.

The Institute of Directors replaced multiple Linux-based proxy servers with a Vital Security Web Appliance NG-1100 from Finjan.

Richard Swann, IT infrastructure manager at the IoD, said the organisation, which has 350 staff nationwide, needed to consolidate to improve security and save time and money. He said that previously security took up 30% of the time of a dedicated member of the IT team.

Swann added that different users within the IoD required different access rights and controlling this was difficult. "We wanted more control but we did not want different servers for each department," he said.

The new system enables separate usage policies to be set for different groups. Swann said this was straightforward.

"We just observed people's network activity and automatically generated the policies," he said.

The IT department controls security policies through the appliance's management interface. One benefit of this is that directors visiting the IoD can be easily set-up to use the institute's Wi-Fi wireless network with limited access rights.

With one appliance controlling security, the IT team needed to ensure a back-up plan in case the system failed. "We have another box, which is not online and configured, but to which it would not take long to transfer policies," said Swann.

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Institute of Directors website >>

Finjan Vital Security Web Appliance NG-1100 >>