eSoft: Simply better network security.™

Central Catholic High School Protects its Network and Keeps Student and Staff Confidential Information Safe with eSoft

School Network is Free of Intruders and Malware

The Organization:

Central Catholic High School

The Challenge:

Central Catholic High School needed comprehensive Internet security to keep its network virus-free and to keep students focused on educational activities.

The eSoft Solution:

eSoft provided the school with its award-winning InstaGate and ThreatWall Internet security gateways with the Web ThreatPak.

“I’ve always had great experiences with eSoft products and I’ve received excellent support from everyone at eSoft�they constantly go out of their way to make sure everything’s working well in our environment.”

Jodi Linnehan Kriner
Director of IT
Central Catholic High School

The Benefits:

  • eSoft’s Web ThreatPak accelerates the web by caching frequently accessed images and web pages on the appliance, conserving bandwidth and speeding up web surfing.
  • eSoft’s Web ThreatPak protects the school’s network against spyware, phishing, browser exploits, viruses, and other malicious Internet content.
  • eSoft’s web filtering, included in the Web ThreatPak allows administrators to preserve a safe school environment by blocking access to websites with pornography, nudity, and other mature content.
  • eSoft’s Intrusion Prevention capabilities, included in the Web ThreatPak, keep the network and confidential data safe from hackers and botnets.
  • Students are curious and more likely than regular users to be exploring the darker sides of the Internet. eSoft’s Web ThreatPak keeps students away from malicious websites and keeps them focused on their schoolwork when they are on the Internet.
  • eSoft’s patented SoftPak Director™ technology allows new services to be added to the appliances quickly as requirements change.
  • eSoft’s web filtering is integrated with the school’s Active Directory server, giving IT administrators the flexibility to tailor specific access rights to different user groups.
  • eSoft’s Distributed Intelligence Architecture™ (DIA) quickly identifies new threats and provides rapid, proactive protection against new malware, malicious websites, phishing attacks, and botnet threats.

 “Our aim is to keep students safe from visiting phishing sites or sites that contain viruses, and also to keep the students focused on their schoolwork. eSoft makes that possible.”

eSoft Security Features Protecting Central Catholic High School’s Network

  • eSoft’s firewall, which comes free as part of the InstaGate, includes Quality of Service (QoS) bandwidth management, full reporting, and sophisticated firewall rules including sophisticated firewall rules. In addition, the firewall comes standard with eSoft’s Deep Packet Inspection (DPI) technology that scans packet data as well as headers to stop threats that most firewalls never see.
  • eSoft’s Web ThreatPak filters spyware, phishing, browser exploits, viruses, and other malicious Internet content while allowing Central Catholic High School to set and enforce Internet usage policies.
  • The large URL database of spyware, phishing and other sites is updated instantly with newly categorized websites through eSoft’s patented SoftPak Director threat response architecture, and the school can add its own custom URLs to the database. The Web ThreatPak is a crucial tool that gives the school more control of Internet usage.
  • Web ThreatPak’s gateway anti-virus features scan all web pages and web/ftp downloads in-depth for viruses, Trojans, Worm, and other malware.
  • eSoft’s Intrusion Prevention System comes standard with all eSoft ThreatPaks and keeps hackers outside of the network, while alerting administrators to evidence of breaches inside the network.
  • eSoft’s Web ThreatPak includes features for blocking access to instant messaging and peer-to-peer networking applications, which can be vectors of viruses and illegal downloads of copyrighted materials.

    •  “eSoft’s solutions are very user-friendly. We find it really beneficial to be able to obtain reports on a particular student or group of students� Internet activity. It helps us maintain a clean network and it also enables us to be proactive when we see potential problems.”

Looking for School Network Safety

Founded in 1935, Central Catholic High School in Lawrence, Massachusetts, is accredited by the New England Association of Schools and Colleges. During its seventy-two year history, Central Catholic has graduated some 12,600 alumni and currently enrolls 1,350 students.

In 2002, the school installed an InstaGate firewall gateway simply to provide students and faculty with email capabilities and protected Internet access. Soon it became evident that more security features were needed as users increasingly began frequenting fraudulent websites that attempted identity theft or served up threats like viruses and worms. In addition to needing more controlled web access, a more robust solution was needed to accommodate the school’s population growth.

“We had the InstaGate for a long time and it finally reached end of life, but we wanted to stay with eSoft because it had worked so well and its solutions are so easy to manage,” said Jodi Linnehan Kriner, Director of Technology with Central Catholic High School. “Support had always been excellent, which I believe is one of the most important things when you are obtaining new hardware. I’ve always had great experiences with eSoft products and I’ve received excellent support from everyone at eSoft—they constantly go out of their way to make sure everything’s working well in our environment. So we simply upgraded with another InstaGate and two additional ThreatWall security gateways.”

Adding Full-Featured Network Security

Central Catholic High School has deployed the eSoft InstaGate as its firewall and VPN solution and two ThreatWall Security Gateways with Web ThreatPak capabilities. The InstaGate, which utilizes a high-performance Deep Packet Inspection (DPI) Firewall and IPSec VPN architecture, offers protection from dynamic, content-based threats that elude traditional firewalls. The ThreatWall appliances have been purpose-built to withstand the rigors of application-level security, making deployment of critical security functions such as anti-virus, anti-phishing, intrusion prevention, and web content filtering almost effortless while retaining maximum effectiveness.

Setting Internet Usage Policies

eSoft’s web filtering provides the school’s IT administrators with complete control of enforcing what sites individual students or groups of people can access at any particular time of the day. The solution is integrated with the school’s Active Directory server, which transparently authenticates and assigns users appropriate web access permissions. Detailed reporting then allows a convenient way to summarize and report on actual usage on a per-user basis so that an administrator can see how much time students are spending on Educational sites versus, for example, Entertainment or Games sites.

“Our aim is to keep students safe from visiting phishing sites or sites that contain viruses, and also to keep the students focused on their schoolwork,” said Kriner. “eSoft Web ThreatPak makes that possible.”

Simplified Management Saves Time for Busy Staff

eSoft’s products, all of which have been designed for ease of use and time-saving features and functionality, lessen the burden for Kriner and her IT colleagues. The InstaGate and ThreatWall gateways are easy to configure and change, and by integrating all of the school’s network security tools into a single management console, one network administrator can manage the entire security solution and keep a handle on all activity, both inside and outside the network.

“eSoft’s solutions are very user-friendly,” said Kriner. “If you want to make changes or run reports, you simply log on and go. We find it really beneficial to be able to obtain reports on a particular student or group of students’ Internet activity-tracking where they go, how long they spend on particular sites, and so on. It helps us maintain a clean network and it also enables us to be proactive when we see potential problems.”

Always Up-to-Date and Proactive

eSoft’s Distributed Intelligence Architecture™ (DIA) leverages eSoft’s patented SoftPak Director™ (SPD) security infrastructure to create a dynamic, two-way communication channel between all eSoft appliances and the SPD. By harnessing the power of eSoft’s installed customer base on an opt-in basis to create a collaborative, global threat prevention network, Central Catholic High School has the power, tools and scale to combat the increasingly sophisticated and coordinated attacks on their network. Each eSoft security appliance self-updates all of its signatures constantly through the day and night. Customized reports and mapping features summarize threat activity and provide warning flags, as well as protection suggestions particular to each appliance and network.

eSoft’s SoftPak Director™ subscription management provides the school with the flexibility and responsiveness necessary to add new security applications as soon as they are needed and easily and instantly receive ongoing updates and malware signatures.

The network at Central Catholic High School is fully secure with the current eSoft solution. “We’re really happy with the eSoft product and we’re happy with eSoft as a company,” said Kriner. “We look forward to keeping our network secure with eSoft well into the future.”
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