THE SOLUTION
After evaluating other disk encryption software platforms, Data Guard Systems selected AlertBoot Full Disk Encryption to secure data across their infrastructure and across their global workforce. "The overall scalability of the AlertBoot platform combined with its web-based central management console made it an easy choice for our security needs," commented Timothy Maliyil, President of Data Guard Systems. "With our workforce spread across the globe, we needed a solution that was easy to implement, distribute, and support."
Leading Technology:
AlertBoot is powered by SafeBoot Mobile Data Security (www.safeboot.com), the global leader in encryption and data security. SafeBoot was the pioneer of central management for enterprise-class end-point security and has over 3 million active licenses across 74 countries. "When a company counts 150 of the Fortune 500 as well as the US agency [NIST] that actually evaluates encryption certifications as its clients, that company must be doing something right," said Maliyil.
Central Policy Management:
AlertBoot Central allows for centralized creation, management, and distribution of a company's encryption policies. Entirely web-based, AlertBoot's management console proved a perfect choice for Data Guard – a company already accustomed to web-based distribution, processes, and communication. And, with the smallest installation packages in the market (~ 3MB in size), all of Data Guard's employees could easily download and run AlertBoot to get their laptops and devices encrypted within minutes.
Encrypted Virtual Infrastructure:
Data Guard's virtual infrastructure enables development teams to easily create test environments, deploy upgrades, backup data, and recreate servers in a fraction of the time it would take to deploy new server hardware. "Certain dev team administrators have different levels of access than others," commented Maliyil. "AlertBoot was able to import our existing Active Directory of users and help us create persistent security policies that followed the users – no matter where they were on the infrastructure." With full disk encryption for virtualized environments, administrators cannot mount existing virtual disks to their own SANs unless their AlertBoot policy grants them that permission.
Encrypted Laptops and Devices:
To protect laptops and smart phones, Data Guard deployed an AlertBoot policy that included Full Disk Encryption, which completely encrypts the entire hard drive, and Advanced Content Encryption. Users were required to authenticate "pre boot" on their machines. In the event of theft or loss, the data would be completely protected from any unauthorized recovery.
Advanced Content Encryption:
Data Guard's policy included AlertBoot Advanced Content Encryption, which structures additional layers of security on these portable devices to protect files and USB keys. Data Guard opted to force persistent file encryption on select file types, such as Microsoft Excel® spreadsheets. This ensured that if a file was e-mailed or removed from an encrypted device, it still retained its full encryption.
USB Key Encryption and Port Blocking:
To further protect all confidential data, Data Guard included policy restrictions that prevented the use of any non-sanctioned, non-AlertBoot-encrypted USB key. Laptops were also locked down to permit the reading of CDs and DVDs but restrict writing data to these media.
Application Control:
To control what was installed on these corporate laptops, Data Guard instituted policies that prevented the use of file sharing software applications, games, and online music store software, such as Apple iTunes®.
Auditing and Reporting:
"This is probably one of the major reasons why AlertBoot was chosen," stated Maliyil. "The fact that the CTO or a ranking IT administrator could pull a real-time audit of our global laptop and device inventory in order to see the encryption status of the machines was very appealing. It made it very easy to deploy and manage the rollout."