ESM Technology Uses BigFix to Help Large Transaction Processing Company Pass Security Audits and Show PCI Compliance

The Challenge

Business Challenge:

The company’s asset information was kept in spreadsheets distributed across different computers in the network. The information was manually maintained but there was not a specific process ruling the updates being done. The objective was to implement a solution that could provide them with 100 percent visibility into what was connected to their networks and could tell them whether those systems were compliant or not. This solution had to be rolled out in less than a three-months’ time frame and this was an extremely challenging deadline given the complexity of the environment and the sensitivity of the information being managed.

The main challenges were the following:

• Provide visibility to all endpoints connected network and show up-to-date configuration details.

• Eliminate weeks of manual work of gathering endpoint inventory stored in multiple spreadsheets to prepare for an audit.

• Improve accuracy and speed of patching. Connie Lamicela, CTO at ESM Technology, explained, “Some tools, compared to BigFix, will deploy patches to target workstations, and sometimes will report back old information or not report back at all. That results in a lot of manual effort. In contrast, BigFix just works and it’s accurate and faster, too.”

• Accurate reporting compliance. Once the company could automatically discover and track endpoints, then demonstrating PCI and patch compliance to regulators in time for the deadline was the next goal to achieve.