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Check Point Software Technologies Ltd (NASDAQ: CHKP), a leading AI-powered, cloud-delivered cyber security platform provider, today announced that Brisbane Catholic Education (BCE) has fully deployed Check Point Quantum Network Security, the leading firewall gateway to strengthen its resilience to cyber attacks, particularly data breaches and to prevent any operational disruptions.

Safeguard the Network and Data

BCE is a learning community comprising more than 140 schools that deliver quality learning outcomes to 77,000 prep-to-year-12 students. BCE’s education and administrative workflows are powered by a large and distributed hybrid IT infrastructure. The organisation also operates the largest non-governmental Microsoft Office 365 tenancy in the Southern Hemisphere. Meanwhile the community’s physical data centre hosts all critical school functions providing library systems maintenance, student support, payroll and much more.

BCE were looking to ensure the strongest protection for student data and personal information, and to safeguard the network, communication links and operational data. With recent data breaches seen at two large Australian companies, BCE wanted to achieve deeper visibility into data traffic and file attachments to avoid a similar fate and ensure a strong infrastructure to promote support for teaching and learning activities.

A long-time Check Point customer who had already deployed clustered Check Point Quantum Security Gateways to secure its datacentre systems and operations, BCE decided on utilising the full Check Point Quantum Security Gateways, activating all available protections to minimise risk effectively.

The Check Point Quantum Security Gateway cluster is proving to be the security cornerstone of the datacentre, providing full threat – prevention capabilities. Quantum’s remote access VPN features, which enabled BCE to support remote workers during the pandemic, continue to support a hybrid work environment with minimal maintenance.

“Our newly activated Quantum Intrusion and Prevention System (IPS) blade features further optimise BCE’s defences against known exploits, vulnerabilities and protocol misuse,” said Tom Nitzschner, Senior ICT Officer for BCE. “Also, the team expanded its rule set to align more closely with BCE's datacentre environment.”

For an added layer of protection against malicious attachments, BCE leverages SandBlast zero-day protection to inspect all downloads and attachments arriving at the gateways, and extract malicious content before delivery.

Check Point also provides a dedicated Technical Account Manager (TAM) responsible to fine-tune threat prevention capabilities, roll out new features and assist on other ad hoc projects. Nitzschner updates the gateways and security policies between school terms, and the TAM works onsite with his team during the first day of a new term to ensure everything works as expected. "Check Point is always standing beside us when we need them," said Nitzschner. "With Check Point, we've done well."

Improved manageability

With the full range of Quantum’s automated features now activated, BCE’s IT team can keep up with the latest vulnerabilities with significantly less manual effort, eliminating the need to consistently keep up with the evolving threat landscape. Check Point automatically updates the gateways to continuously ensure updated security, allowing the team peace of mind and assurance of fighting against the newer security malware.

Nitzschner also highlighted that the filtering of web traffic is now also much more manageable. Previously, BCE had relied on a third-party server with 16 blades devoted exclusively to inspecting web traffic, but it offered limited visibility. For example, the team could only see that a server request went out.

“With Quantum’s URL Filtering, we can see both the destination domain and actual traffic,” he said. "If we see a server going somewhere we didn't expect, we can quickly determine if it should be allowed or not and take action – and do this with a single solution."

Better reliability

Of all the benefits achieved since upgrading the Check Point stack, reliability has been one of the most significant. “We've never had a blue screen or other problems,” said Nitzschner. “The Quantum Security Gateways just run, and run, and run. By turning on Quantum’s full capabilities, we're getting more protection and deeper visibility out of the investment we already made."

Nitzschner said he looked forward to continuing to work with Check Point to maintain security within his organisation’s IT infrastructure. “They have become a trusted technology provider and we will continue rely on their experience and expertise to keep our resources safe and fully operational.”

Les Williamson, Regional Director, Check Point Australia and New Zealand, said, “With the education/research sector being the most impacted industry in Australia with over 2,000 weekly attacks per organisation (according to Check Point’s Threat Intelligence Report), it was vital to ensure the highest level of security for our education customers. Check Point is thrilled to be collaborating with Brisbane Catholic Education to enable complete advanced threat prevention security with Quantum Security gateways, with centralised and streamlined security management that can handle all security risks and enhanced security visibility.”

 

Les Williamson, Regional Director, Check Point Australia and New Zealand

About Check Point Software Technologies Ltd.

Check Point Software Technologies Ltd. (www.checkpoint.com) is a leading AI-powered, cloud-delivered cyber security platform provider protecting over 100,000 organisations worldwide. Check Point leverages the power of AI everywhere to enhance cyber security efficiency and accuracy through its Infinity Platform, with industry-leading catch rates enabling proactive threat anticipation and smarter, faster response times. The comprehensive platform includes cloud-delivered technologies consisting of Check Point Harmony to secure the workspace, Check Point CloudGuard to secure the cloud, Check Point Quantum to secure the network, and Check Point Infinity Core Services for collaborative security operations and services.