OGL has worked with Star Fasteners for nearly two decades and through CyberGuard now delivers advanced protection against cyber criminals, keeping the fastener business’ critical data under virtual lock and key…
Large scale cyber-attacks are hitting every industry and the fastener, tool and related sectors are not immune. With ransomware demands being made of small and large businesses alike and 300,000 new malware variants appearing each day, no business can afford to be complacent. An innocent-looking file downloaded from the internet with a ‘trojan’ embedded, or a malicious email attachment could cause chaos.
Defending your identity, reputation, data and customers’ confidential information is becoming more important. That’s why Star Fasteners turned to CyberGuard Technologies, OGL Computer’s Cyber Security division, to protect the critical information they hold within their ERP system, prof.ITplus, against cyber threats.
OGL Computer has worked with Star Fasteners for almost 20 years and played an integral part in the company becoming a leading global specialist within the fasteners market. Not only has OGL Computer built bespoke IT solutions, but also supplied their business software, prof.ITplus, specialist inventory and business management software that helps to connect all business processes for increased efficiency and productivity.
Star Fasteners recognised that not being cyber secure is too high a risk to ignore, as Director Nicola Smith explains: “CyberGuard assessed our vulnerabilities and prepared an in-depth report. This gave us the confidence to make informed choices.”
With cyber-attacks becoming more sophisticated, Star Fasteners was convinced that an off-the- shelf package would not go far enough to safeguard the business. Prior to CyberGuard, the company had a firewall and a traditional anti-virus installed.
However, hackers are constantly developing new ways of deploying increasingly complex malware. A variety of techniques are being used to disguise malicious codes, which can even be hidden within a normal image file. Firewalls don’t block image files downloaded from the internet and this allows the attacker to sneak in the malicious code.
CyberGuard tailored services to meet Star Fasteners specific needs. Armed with the in-depth security assessment, Star Fasteners agreed to proactive protection via CyberGuard’s Detect & Respond Services, a fully managed suite of services and tools to defend a business, including:
- Move from a traditional anti-virus product to a next-generation solution called Carbon Black Defense, which uses detection methods based on user behaviour to identify and block what could be malicious behaviour. It prevents attacks that would evade traditional anti-virus products.
- Implementation of a managed firewall to help control cyber-attacks. Unlike a traditional firewall, this is managed by CyberGuard and offers the company complete peace of mind. Indeed, regular CyberGuard email bulletins help to ensure that Star Fasteners is kept aware of any new developments and up-to-date advice for employees to keep them safe, whether at work or home.
- Cloud Recovery ensuring that the business data held within prof.ITplus as well as on their network is backed up securely. With ransomware threats constantly in the news and new ways for data to be encrypted, hijacked files can demand a high ransom. With Cloud Recovery key workers maintain access to critical data, operating systems and IT applications.
Star Fasteners’ Director Nicola Smith concludes: “CyberGuard and OGL Computer always take a hands-on approach to prevent technical issues. We meet regularly with our Cyber-Guard, IT Solutions and Business Software representatives and together we always come up with something that we can tweak or update.”
Find out more about protection against cyber criminals on OGL's site.
This article was first published in the September 2019 edition of Torque Magazine. Read the full magazine here or apply for a free subscription online.
