MULTI-SCHOOL DISTRICT RELIES ON COMODO’S SECURITY TECHNOLOGY TO CONTAIN AND DEFEAT UNWANTED MALWARE.
LARGE OR SMALL ORGANIZATIONS, THE MALWARE THREAT REMAINS THE SAME
The Licking R-VIII School District is a kindergarten through 12th grade school district, based in Texas County, in Licking, Missouri. The small town has a population of a little over 3,000 residents as of the last U.S. Census and over 900 of those residents are students in the K-12 educational system.
The school district’s IT staff was in need of a reliable security solution to reduce and contain the massive amounts of malware and spyware-serving websites currently being accessed by its student body, as well as help defend against possible virus and malware exposure through USB sticks that are used by many to share and exchange information.
The IT administration team for the school district consists of two people who are responsible for managing the security connections to more than 500 computers, servers and endpoints used in the district.
With its smaller IT staff, the Licking IT staff was looking for a cost effective and easy-to-manage secure solution that would reduce the amount of time consumed by traditional endpoint security management.
Additionally, the Licking School District is gearing up for a new initiative that will put a school-sponsored mobile device in the hands of all 3rd through 12 graders over the next 12-24 months, which will be approximately 800 devices such as Chromebooks and/or Netbooks. The infrastructure phase includes substantial switching and wireless overhaul, which is a requirement for a robust and easily managed endpoint security system.
TURNING TO COMODO FOR HELP
“Our previous antivirus and endpoint software solution was standalone, unmanaged, and allowed a very high number of infections, causing long hours for cleaning and repairing computers,” said Michael Allen, Technology Director, Licking School District. “We needed a solution capable of delivering a centralized real-time alerting system as well as proactive protection against the threat of malware. This was essential due to our high exposure to viruses, Trojans and spyware the school experiences as a result of both student and staff browsing. It was time for a new solution.”
THE ANSWER: ENDPOINT SECURITY WITH SIMPLIFIED MANAGEMENT
Upon review and testing based on previous use on the consumer side, Comodo Advanced Endpoint Protection and its centralized management tool were proven to be the superior solution for Licking School District. ESM was able to wipe out viruses and malware that its previous IT security system failed to detect, as well as have the ability to offer a centralized management console for ease of use in containing and protecting endpoints. Processor impact on the endpoint was also a critical factor, as a significant portion of Licking’s current computer inventory is made up of older machines.
Comodo’s patent-pending automatic containment technology – Comodo ESM – eliminates malware outbreaks and operating system contamination by automatically running any untrusted application in a secure, contained environment on the user’s PC, never subjecting the user to any known or unknown risk.
SERVICES & SUPPORT
As part of the ESM implementation, the Comodo business and enterprise support team helped Licking School District with the full rollout of ESM to ensure that deployment and configuration best practices were followed, for optimum results. The Licking IT team was able to engage fully in Q&A sessions with the Comodo implementation team to understand how and why certain procedures were put in place. The implementation team also showed Licking how it could use ESM as a system management tool to monitor computers and servers, and how to use ESM as a remote screen-sharing tool to assist its users without having to leave the desks of IT Operations – giving Licking the ability to accurately track all the computing hardware and software in their environment through ESM’s reporting functionality.
BUSINESS IMPROVEMENTS THROUGH COMODO TECHNOLOGY
Licking School District has now been live on Comodo ESM for more than a year. “We have witnessed our network now cleaned by Comodo’s software, finding and eliminating all the infections that were completely invisible to our previous product,” Allen continued. “The key with Comodo’s ESM solution is that its unique containment technology truly protects our endpoints from any outside threat to our IT system – regardless of what that threat might be. We are protected and safe and able to run applications freely in a contained, controlled and safe environment – with zero interruption to our users.”
Through running Comodo Advanced Endpoint Protection, there are now more computers available to students because the Licking IT staff no longer needs to have the computers taken off the network for decontamination. The technology also allows for the faculty and support staff to be more productive due to increased availability of their protected computers and endpoints as well.
The migration to Comodo Advanced Endpoint Protection enhanced the School District’s defenses, which significantly reduced the school’s IT security risks due to the implementation of Comodo’s unique, patent pending containment technology. The net result is reduced risk to the student body and enhanced productivity for the teaching and clerical staff.
Comodo’s Endpoint Security Management software suite brings five layers of defense (antivirus, firewall, host intrusion prevention, automatic containment and file reputation) right to the point of impact—the desktop environment, which was an optimal solution for Licking School District.
For IT administrators who want to prevent data breaches, infections and contain their network from any known or unknown threat, Comodo endpoint security is the only solution that offers on-device, real-time containment. Unlike legacy approaches such as blacklisting and sandboxing, Comodo endpoint security uses smart filtering to automatically contain and execute unknown files, without negatively impacting the system performance and the user’s productivity.
Learn more about the Licking School District, in Texas County, Missouri at
http://www.licking.k12.mo.us/
Get more information on Comodo containment and endpoint security solutions by contacting
enterprisesolutions@comodo.com
About Comodo
CThe Comodo organization is a global innovator and developer of cyber security solutions, founded on the belief that every single digital transaction deserves and requires a unique layer of trust and security. Building on its deep history in SSL certificates, antivirus and endpoint security leadership, and true containment technology, individuals and enterprises rely on Comodo’s proven solutions to authenticate, validate and secure their most critical information. With data protection covering endpoint, network and mobile security, plus identity and access management, Comodo’s proprietary technologies help solve the malware and cyber-attack challenges of today. Securing online transactions for thousands of businesses, and with more than 85 million desktop security software installations, Comodo is Creating Trust Online®. With United States headquarters in Clifton, New Jersey, the Comodo organization has offices in China, India, the Philippines, Romania, Turkey, Ukraine and the United Kingdom
For additional information on Comodo – Creating Trust Online™ – please visit: Comodo.com.
