check point gimv cloud security case study.pdf

Gimv Secures Critical Investment Data with Check Point Harmony

Check Point solutions provide a single pane of glass from which to control cloud and on-premise security

INDUSTRY
Finance/Banking

HEADQUARTERS
Antwerp, Belgium

COMPANY SIZE
51-200 employees

OVERVIEW

Gimv is a European investment company that’s been listed on Euronext Brussels since 1997. It invests in companies that fit into one of four investment platforms: Connected Consumer, Health & Care, Smart Industries and Sustainable Cities. It has offices in Belgium, Netherlands, France, and Germany.

OUR SOLUTION

CHALLENGE

As a business, the challenge for Gimv is to identify investment opportunities. It sees more than 1,000 companies each year, all needing a thorough examination of their investment potential.

“We exchange a lot of sensitive data, through a lot of emails,” says Kristof Poppe, IT Manager, Gimv. “Data security is critical. It’s not a question of ‘if’ you’re being attacked, it’s ‘when.’”

Check Point Harmony is a ‘set and forget’ solution. It gives end users the confidence to know that the mail in their mailbox has already passed security checks and is secure.

Kristof Poppe, IT Manager, Gimv

For Poppe, the task is to balance corporate security with end-user flexibility. He wants to allow Gimv staff to work from a device and location of their choice whilst having a necessary overview of the threat landscape.”

SOLUTION

Gimv has worked with Check Point solutions since 2012. “We had another provider, but Check Point was the first to introduce a threat emulation feature. We tested it, were very pleased with it, and immediately put it into production,” says Poppe.

Since then, the business has steadily moved to the cloud, with an external data center and Office365. The transition to the cloud urged them to look for stronger security solutions that understand cloud threats.

Our family of CloudGuard security products is designed to prevent the latest fifth-generation cyber attacks targeting enterprise cloud services. The portfolio, part of the Check Point Infinity Platform architecture, includes Harmony Email & Office, CloudGuard Posture Management and CloudGuard Network Security. Harmony Email & Office provides Gimv with unmatched protection for their Software as a Service (SaaS) applications.

OUTCOME

Poppe says Check Point secures Gimv and simplifies day-to-day operations: “The main benefit of Check Point, with our distributed environment, is that we have a single control center for everything, a single pane of glass.”

The integration with the Harmony Email & Office is particularly useful, he adds: “Since we’re only a small IT team, making things simple to maintain is very important. One vendor, with a comprehensive portfolio of solutions, makes security easy to manage across the entire environment, from our external data center to our remote offices.”

The latest upgrade to Harmony Email & Office, he continues, was simple to install and to take into production: “We have one dashboard providing a complete overview of our Office365 mail environment. The next step is to integrate our SharePoint Online environment.”

The main benefit of Check Point, with our distributed environment, is that we have a single control center for everything, a single pane of glass.
Kristof Poppe, IT Manager, Gimv

On a typical day, Gimv receives 1,000 emails an hour. Harmony Email & Office flags all suspicious emails, removing any threats before they arrive at a user’s inbox.

“It’s a ‘set and forget’ solution,” Poppe states. “It gives end users the confidence to know that the mail in their mailbox has already passed security checks and is secure. Prior to Harmony Email & Office, we needed to check several systems to see if all was ok. Now, with a single inquiry, we can find all the reports we need.”

ABOUT CHECK POINT

Check Point Software Technologies Ltd. is a leading AI-powered, cloud-delivered cyber security platform provider protecting over 100,000 organizations worldwide. Check Point leverages the power of AI everywhere to enhance cyber security efficiency and accuracy through its Infinity Platform, with industry-leading catch rates enabling proactive threat anticipation and smarter, faster response times. The comprehensive platform includes cloud-delivered technologies consisting of Check Point Harmony to secure the workspace, Check Point CloudGuard to secure the cloud, Check Point Quantum to secure the network, and Check Point Infinity Platform Services for collaborative security operations and services.