Case Study: Hospitality Giant Discovers Malware Isn’t Hospitable

The Challenge

Malicious software, or Malware, is the most expensive type of cyber-attack. While malware, DDoS and web-based attacks are the primary contributing factors to revenue loss, they also afflict major damage in the forms of business interruption, information loss and equipment damage. When you are one of the country’s largest hospitality companies, with over 700 locations coast to coast, that first consequence—revenue loss—is felt with each tick of the clock. They watched their lost revenue figure grow after malware accessed, then damaged, their network. The credit card and contact information of millions of customers was left exposed. Unless they worked with experienced security experts―and fast―they could easily suffer losses totaling into the the tens of millions of dollars.

The Hardest Threat Vector to Protect

Of the 3 threat vectors―network, software and applications, and people―the hardest to protect is the latter, especially when you employ 70,000 professionals. And today, with so many employees working off-site and accessing corporate networks remotely and through a variety of devices, protecting them is becoming more difficult each day. All it takes is that one employee clicking a single file. That’s exactly what happened to the customer.

They had also talked to several other VARs about bolstering their network security, but, as is usually the case, their evaluation resulted in the selection of Netsync. 

The customer contacted Netsync, with whom they’ve successfully worked on several other IT projects and initiatives. They had also talked to several other VARs about bolstering their network security, but, as is usually the case, their evaluation resulted in the selection of Netsync. The level of professionalism, technical expertise and empirical experience displayed by Netsync made selecting them an easy decision. And they would soon find out why so many other enterprises, government agencies, school districts and higher ed institutions have turned to Netsync’s engineers and solutions architects to greatly enhance their network security.

Netsync’s security professionals conducted a thorough threat analysis to bring to light vulnerabilities that needed to be addressed. They conducted penetration testing, which mimicked a cyberattack and exposed entry points that needed to be secured. When testing was completed, Netsync’s security team architected a solution that they’ve deployed to successfully protect hundreds of customers. It was a solution from Cisco, its valued and longtime partner.

Umbrella Provides the Needed Protection

Netsync deployed Cisco Umbrella, its flexible, cloud-delivered security solution that combines multiple security functions into a single solution. Because Umbrella is cloud-delivered, it is simply the industry’s easiest way to protect users, regardless of location.

Cisco Umbrella provides:

DNS-layer security, which improves security visibility, provides the ability to easily and quickly detect compromised systems, and protect users by stopping threats over any port or protocol before they reach the network.

A Secure Web Gateway that inspects and logs web traffic for full visibility, provides application and URL controls, and protects against malware.

A Cloud-Delivered Firewall that logs all activity and blocks unwanted traffic using port, IP, and protocol rules. A simple IPSec tunnel configuration, which can be done from any device, enables users to forward traffic. And when new tunnels are created, policies are automatically applied for consistent enforcement.

Cloud Access Security Broker (CASB) to expose shadow IT, which refers to systems built and used within organizations without approval. CASB provides the Umbrella customers the ability to detect and report on all cloud applications utilized.

Interactive Threat Intelligence (available via a console and API), which provides users unprecedented insight into malicious domains, IPs, and URLs. Umbrella provides real-time context on malware, botnets, phishing, trojans, and other threats. It enables faster incident investigation and response times.

Within Minutes, Bad Actors were Thwarted

Just moments after Netsync deployed and tested the customer’s new Cisco Umbrella security solution, there were over 1,200 blocked crypto-mining malware attempts. That’s over a thousand attempts to take over the customer’s computing resources and utilize them for crypto mining.

The customer’s highly upgraded Netsync security solution now provides more than peace of mind. It’s now freeing up what the customer estimates was thousands of man hours their IT team had previously spent addressing malware intrusions.