Case Study - Zasada Group

Founded in 1976 by Sobieslaw Zasada, one of the most successful rally drivers in Polish history, Zasada Group remains among the largest and oldest corporate groups in Poland. There are more than 30 companies in the group acting in several vertical markets including automotive, real estate, manufacturing, and lifestyle and supported by more than 2,000 employees.

Though the group provides a diverse array of products – including cars, houses, sportswear, wines and much more – they are always designed with innovation and safety at the forefront. In fact, Zasada coined the term “Safe Speed,” or the rate of speed that can be safely maintained by the driver of a vehicle.

Challenge

With this focus on safety in mind, Zasada Group was looking to increase their network security in order to more effectively combat modern cyber threats. However, enabling a robust, secure IT environment for 350 users at corporate headquarters and over 2,000 remote users was no easy feat.

Zasada Group’s existing firewall lacked the performance, reliability, and most importantly – the layered security that Zasada group required. The company needed a solution that would enable them to proactively control network traffic via a centrally managed infrastructure. The right solution would also enable strong advanced malware protection and granular network visibility.

Solution

Working with their IT providers, Zasada Group found all of their requirements met with two WatchGuard Firebox M500 appliances, deployed as a high availability pairing and bolstered by the addition of an APT Blocker subscription for protection against zero-day threats and advanced malware.

WatchGuard’s layered approach to security provided Zasada Group with true unified threat management, effectively combatting cyber threats at every level of defense. The solution can easily be duplicated and quickly deployed across all locations within Zasada Group, and given the success of their current WatchGuard deployment, the company intends to do just that.

Results

Central management systems consisting of WatchGuard System Manager and Dimension – WatchGuard’s network visibility platform, have provided Zasada Group with the necessary tools for quick configuration, central monitoring and incident response, as well as granular, valuable insight into all activity within the network. Standardization of security policies has helped to ensure consistency across locations, while at the same time minimizing management overhead and TCO.

“One of the most important factors in choosing WatchGuard were the analytics tools, which have provided a huge added value. Full event, traffic, and application visibility allows us to quickly identify incidents and respond instantly,” reflected Jakub Mikrut, IT manager of Zasada Group. “WatchGuard’s clear interface – combined with overall ease of management – has been especially important, and has enabled shortened response time, minimized management burden, and has lowered TCO”.