CYBER SECURITY CASE STUDY

MALLOWSTREET

Company Name:

Mallowstreet Ltd

Headquarters:

125 Old Broad Street London, EC2N 1AR, UK

Mallowstreet Limited is a financial social networking community that operates online within the pension industry. Mallowstreet’s website is an enterprise social software application featuring blogs, forums, videos, papers and financial products. Members must have an association with a pension fund as a trustee or consultant. However, the site also allows product providers associated with an organisation targeting the pensions industry, such as a bank, to join although many parts of the site may be restricted.

The Challenge

Mallostreet understands the importance of confidentiality for both client and candidate information. Therefore, cyber security is an important aspect for doing business. They wanted to ensure that their IT estate was properly secure and their policies are using best practice.

The Objectives

Mallowstreet wanted a review of their IT security and multi-DC estate and a robust solution to resolve any issues. Additionally, it was important that costs were properly managed, so a cost effective phased implementation of a solution was required.

What makes TWC so special for Mallowstreet?

Source: mallowstreet.com

Mallowstreet is an online financial social networking community within the pension industry. The mallowstreet.com website is an enterprise social software application featuring blogs, forums, videos, papers and financial products. Members must have an association with a pension fund as a trustee or consultant. The site also allows product providers associated with an organisation targeting the pensions industry, such as a bank, to join although many parts of the site may be restricted. In August 2010 the community was made up of 730 users, representing 200 pension funds managing £500 billion in assets. In October 2011, the community consisted of 2,100 users, representing 580 pension funds managing over £1 trillion in assets.

The Solution

A company security audit was quickly initiated and completed within a day. The resulting audit report covered four main points:

1. Infrastructure perimeter security – this included firewalls, intrusion detection and prevention systems.

2. System vulnerability scanning, which incorporated checking systems and third-party governance for known weaknesses.

3. Existing security policy review.

4. Recommendations for quick solutions to target identified issues and a step plan to improve the infrastructure security for the business.

The following solution was deployed in a phased approach:

1. Robust domain backup software was implemented and managed.

2. A managed anti-malware service was deployed which included the email service, internal and external file servers and desktop monitoring. Daily monitoring of the estate occurs which also comprises of monthly reporting and management of threats.

3. Also, multi-factor authentication on software was implemented where appropriate.

The Business Outcome

The benefits realised by Mallowstreet are:

✓ The protection of commercially sensitive Information.
✓ The protection of the company’s reputation by avoiding the financial implications of fines any negative publicity associated with a cyber-attack.
✓ Allowing employees to work safely without the fear from a potential cyber-attack. Cyberattacks can hamper employees’ productivity.
✓ Providing a competitive advantage in comparison to rivals with poor cyber security.
✓ A cost-effective security solution.