It is the oldest securities exchange in the United States but there is nothing antique about the Philadelphia Stock Exchange’s approach to information security. Other companies hold their breath and cross their fingers, hoping only authorized people gain access to critical data that’s password-protected, and that security patches and encryption strategies hold back the flood of malware waiting to attack from the outside. The Exchange, on the other hand, developed a strategy to “find the problems before they find you.”

The proactive path led the Exchange straight to Safend. Safend, headquartered in Tel Aviv, Israel with a US office in Philadelphia, develops security software for network endpoints. Specifically, Safend solutions address the vulnerabilities presented by peripheral connections such as USB, removable media, and wireless devices.
When Allan Pomerantz, CSO for the Exchange, went shopping for an endpoint security solution, Safend made the short list. “We looked at a couple of other products, but after seeing the demo for Safend’s USB Port Protector, I requested that Gene meet with them.” Pomerantz says.

Safend offers a free tool that identifies potential security leaks, so Gene Peters, Director of Information Services for the Exchange, ran Safend’s Auditor on their network. The free download provides a list of all devices that are or have been connected to the network within the last six months. The vulnerabilities exposed after running the USB Auditor are, at best, unsettling to most companies’ security personnel. But at the Exchange, Peters was not disturbed by what he saw. “We run a tight security environment,” he says. “USB Auditor really didn’t find anything we weren’t aware of.” He does, however, agree: “Auditor is a very interesting tool.”
Tight security notwithstanding, the Exchange’s IT department is not in denial. Sarbanes-Oxley and a flood of news stories touting the failure of other big-name companies to keep private records under wraps has put security center stage in the financial community. With 400 machines to secure and a small staff, Peters knew he would either have to find a creative solution to the threat of data tampering and theft via physical ports or start rebuilding PCs. Safend provided the answer with their newest product, Safend Protector.

“Safend’s products are well thought out and actually accomplish more than we expected,” he asserts. “The product is robust, helping us in our proactive quest to identify potential problems.”

Safend Protector provides data access control from the physical ports of all enterprise endpoints, such as USB, FireWire, WiFi, Bluetooth, Infrared (IrDA), and CD/DVDs yet allows IT management to customize user policies.

“The theft of intellectual property is a major concern in most corporate environments, including ours,” says Pomerantz. “However, even more troubling for us is the risk of someone walking in here, plugging in a USB device, and uploading malware. Safend Protector will help us reduce that risk.”