PRODUCTS

F5 BIG-IP Application Security Manager – Virtual Edition on Azure

BENEFITS

Application protection for public websites
Consistent policy deployment across multi-cloud environments
Scalable Defense to Promote Business Innovation and Agility
Deployment of mobile protection solutions using the F5 Mobile SDK

CHALLENGES

Evolving security threats
Maintaining consistent security protocols across multiple environments

Faced with ever-evolving cybersecurity threats, one of the biggest financial organisation in Greece, needed to strengthen the protection of its main business website. By deploying F5 BIG-IP Application Security Manager on Microsoft Azure, the organization boosted security without compromising user experience or reliability.

Business Challenges

The financial organisation operates in 6 countries with about 500 branches and over 13,000 staff over the territories, developing financial products and services, focusing on customers and their needs. It offers sophisticated choices and well-rounded services to individuals and businesses. The financial institution operates with transparency, builds credibility and applies modern corporate governance practices. It receives hundreds of thousands of web visits daily from customers seeking banking information and online financial services.

In the wake of increasing security threats, Bank came to Pylones, the sole F5 gold unity partner in Greece to strengthen the security of its website infrastructure on Microsoft Azure with additional infrastructure on-premises. The team required a tailored solution that could be seamlessly deployed across their cloud, on-premises, and in mobile environments. Bank drew the attention of new potential customers—but also drew in potential hackers. “Following a recent attack, we have actively worked to strengthen the security of our website to better protect our customers”, said CISO.

Solution

After completing a careful evaluation of several competitors, Bank in partnership with Pylones selected F5 Networks for its unique value proposition of being able to deliver every app, anywhere—securely, with confidence. Positioned as a leader in the 2017 Gartner magic quadrant for Web Application Firewalls (WAF), Pylones worked closely with Bank’s partner to understand Bank’s challenges and recommend a solution optimized to Bank’s needs.

“As cyber-attacks continue to increase and evolve at an alarming rate, we needed to find a reliable partner who could help us take care of this major concern. Lucky for us, Pylones Hellas & F5 was an easy choice,” said the CISO of the Bank. “Given their existing relationship with our partner, Pylones Hellas, F5 was a natural fit. They have delivered much-needed security, as well as providing peace of mind.”

The financial institution giant selected F5 BIG-IP Application Security Manager – Virtual Edition (BIG-IP ASM-VE) on Azure to solve their issues. Not only was Pylones & F5 able to offer application protection for their public website, allowing for the consistent policy deployment on cloud and on-premises, the solution also enabled proactive bot defense, preventing bad bots from retrieving important property information.

“Thanks to Pylones & F5, we now have a robust and agile WAF solution across multiple cloud platforms and our on-premises datacenter, which has given us a consistent level of security and led to increased customer confidence,” added the CISO of the bank.

Another reason Bank selected F5 was the availability of future deployments of mobile protection solutions using the F5 Mobile SDK. To-date, the Bank has deployed the solution to provide security protection for applications hosted in Azure and has also deployed the same solution for its on-premises datacenter.

Benefits

By implementing BIG-IP ASM-VE on Azure, Bank is better protected against security attacks, ensuring application availability by stopping attacks from any location. Its customers can conveniently access banking information with peace of mind that their data is secure.

Consistent policies across multi-cloud environments

With F5’s Application Security Manager, Bank was able to deploy the same security policy across Azure and its on-premises datacenter and maintain consistency across multi-cloud environments (both Public & Private Cloud).  This reduced operational complexity, as well as the risk of policy gaps.

Scalable defense to promote business innovation and agility

One of the major benefits Bank has received from using F5’s solution is the freedom to grow their on-premises and cloud infrastructures according to business priorities, with the confidence that their apps will be protected without being tied to any particular deployment model or cloud platform. This contrasts with other vendors, whose solutions can sometimes be restrictive and time-consuming to deploy.

Future mobile protection solutions using the F5 Mobile SDK

Mobile apps are different from web applications, as mobile apps do not support the same security capabilities as web browsers. However, F5’s Anti-Bot Mobile SDK extends the robust bot protection capabilities of F5’s Web Application Firewall (WAF) solutions to mobile applications to defend against bots, vulnerability scanners, content scraping, and other automated attack vectors by safely whitelisting sessions coming from the protected mobile app. With growing demand and enthusiasm for digital technologies, including mobile, in Greece, Bank is able to deploy an integrated solution for their mobile channel protection.

Catering to Open API trend

By deploying F5 solutions, Bank can now connect securely with fintech and third-party service providers to provide innovative and integrated services, moving in step with the Open API Banking initiative and allowing customers to enjoy one-stop service and a better customer experience.