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HollyFrontier is a Fortune 500 independent refiner and distributor of petroleum products. The company operates six refineries—five in the middle of the US and one in Ontario, Canada. The company employs 3,500 people across 43 sites in the US, 16 in Canada, and a handful of locations in China and the United Kingdom.
Search for Better Endpoint Protection Leads to Revamped Security Architecture As part of an endpoint security review, HollyFrontier invited six leading vendors to make presentations in competition for the business. McAfee stood out from the other vendors with its integrated security strategy and attainable vision of a threat defense lifecycle that learns and adapts to meet changing requirements. “We agreed wholeheartedly with the McAfee® approach,” says Cybersecurity Engineer Phillip Fort, the main person responsible for HollyFrontier’s day-to-day security posture. “With the integrated McAfee ecosystem, our limited security team can automate a lot of security tasks. We can essentially do a lot more to protect our company a lot faster, without adding staff.” In addition to McAfee endpoint protection and its bundled McAfee ePolicy Orchestrator (McAfee ePO) central console, in just a few weeks, HollyFrontier deployed:
■    McAfee Network Security Platform intrusion prevention system (IPS) appliances.
■    McAfee Data Exchange Layer, the open-source fabric that connects security components to automate integration and real-time data exchange.
■    McAfee Threat Intelligence Exchange, which aggregates threat intelligence from local and global sources and shares file reputation information across McAfee Data Exchange Layer-connected systems.
■    McAfee Enterprise Security Manager and other components of the McAfee SIEM solution set.
■    McAfee Advanced Threat Defense sandboxing appliance. Within a year, the company also began deploying McAfee Endpoint Threat Defense and Response and McAfee Web Gateway. Infection Rate and Ransomware Reduced Dramatically HollyFrontier initially deployed the McAfee Complete Endpoint Threat Protection suite. However, because of “all the ransomware going around,” HollyFrontier was anxious to install McAfee Endpoint Security and its Dynamic Application Containment (DAC) functionality. When DAC encounters a file that does not have a trusted reputation or is unknown, it immediately quarantines the file before it can infect “patient zero.” Consequently, as soon as McAfee Endpoint Security became available, the company migrated the McAfee VirusScan® Enterprise portion of its endpoint protection suite to the McAfee Endpoint Security Threat Prevention module, first rolling out version 10.1, then upgrading to version 10.2, and upgrading again to version 10.5.
Although DAC initially blocked a few legacy applications that are still used, Fort was able to quickly create exclusions for those applications. “The McAfee Endpoint Security graphical user interface is very easy to use,” he notes.“Once I created the first couple exclusions, the rest were easy.” It didn’t take long for the biggest impact of the new endpoint protection framework to became evident. “After implementing McAfee Endpoint Security and DAC, our malware infection rate plummeted,” states Fort. “We used to have ransomware attacks each month, but we have had none since migrating to McAfee Endpoint Security and integrating it with McAfee Threat Intelligence Exchange and McAfee Advanced Threat Defense … Truthfully, I don’t have to deal with McAfee Endpoint Security very much—and that’s a good thing.” Results of Sandbox Analysis Automatically Shared Throughout Enterprise
As Fort contemplated the benefits of an integrated security platform prior to its implementation, the integration he was most excited about was that of the endpoint and other security components with the McAfee Advanced Threat Defense.
“McAfee Advanced Threat Defense does as much or more than other sandboxes, but its integration with other McAfee solutions is what makes it so incredibly powerful,” says Fort. “It immediately detects and contains a potentially malicious file on the endpoint, IPS, or gateway.
First it sends the file automatically to McAfee Advanced Threat Defense for analysis, and, if found malicious, the file is then automatically removed across the entire enterprise. That is truly transformative for our small security team,” states Fort. “It augments our own abilities and saves us a lot of time.” Every day a security analyst checks McAfee Advanced Threat Defense to review the list of files that the appliance has convicted as malicious. “Once an administrative assistant clicked on a phishing email,” explains Fort. “The IPS, McAfee Network Security Platform, blocked the suspicious file and sent it to McAfee Advanced Threat Defense, which determined that it was bad. The file appeared in the day’s list of convicted files, and we confirmed that it was indeed blocked and automatically entered in the McAfee Threat Intelligence Exchange reputation database shared throughout the enterprise.”
Periodically, the HollyFrontier security team runs assessments in which sample malware is put on a machine. “We then watch to make sure the malware shows up in McAfee Advanced Threat Defense and is removed from the host machine and blacklisted throughout the enterprise,” clarifies Fort. “It works every time—just as it’s supposed to.” Increasing Visibility and Facilitating Reporting with McAfee SIEM The desire for better visibility across the enterprise drove HollyFrontier to replace its aging SIEM with the McAfee SIEM technology. According to Fort, McAfee SIEM technology provides a much more complete security picture and widespread visibility across the network, which helps in countless ways. To cite just one example, a considerable number of users were becoming locked out as they tried to reset their passwords because they had failed to log off other machines. A security analyst simply entered the user ID in the McAfee SIEM system, and immediately could see exactly which machines a user was logged into, whether or not he was locked out, and whether he should have access—and then could reset passwords as necessary. “In that case and many more, McAfee Enterprise Security Manager technology saves us a lot of investigative time,” says Fort. The HollyFrontier security team also uses many out-of- the-box rules and alerts, as well as custom ones within the McAfee SIEM solution. “Even if we haven’t developed a custom rule, if I have just a little information on a security event, it is easy to drill down and do a search based on single or multiple variables to find as much additional information as I need,” explains Fort. The McAfee Enterprise Security Manager solution also makes reporting easier. For example, to produce a quarterly security review to upper management, Fort simply runs out-of-the-box executive reports created by the McAfee SIEM solution and McAfee Advanced Threat Defense from within McAfee ePO software.
Rapid Searching Saves Time, Eliminates Vulnerabilities Faster
According to Fort, before learning about the McAfee integrated security platform, he had “fallen in love” with an endpoint detection and response (EDR) product from another vendor. “When we looked at McAfee Endpoint Threat Defense and Response, however, we realized it did everything that other solution did,” he recalls. “It gives us all the information we ever wanted to know— really, really fast.” With the McAfee EDR software, the HollyFrontier security team can eradicate vulnerabilities much faster. If Fort learns of a vulnerability in a specific version of an application—for instance, in Microsoft Office 2013—he can use the McAfee Active Response search functionality to quickly and easily find out exactly how many desktops have that version or create a list of all endpoints with that version. It took less than a minute for one of Fort’s colleagues to find all versions of Adobe Acrobat in the enterprise recently and just a few more minutes to determine which endpoints required updating. After pushing out the update, he clicked to rerun the search to confirm that all the updates were successful.
“The rapid searching we can do using McAfee Active Response saves us a tremendous amount of time,” says Fort. “We used to manually maintain inventory spreadsheets of all the various applications and systems. Now we can run real-time reports in seconds, and everyone is confident they are correct.” Adding Hybrid Web Protection At a McAfee user conference, while Fort was singing the praises of McAfee Network Security Platform and McAfee Advanced Threat Defense to other attendees.
Many of the participants were raving about McAfee Web Gateway, claiming it was their favorite McAfee product, prompting Fort to investigate. He quickly became convinced that McAfee Web Gateway was worth the investment, even though the company had an adequate web gateway solution. In addition to being able to share threat information in near real time with the other McAfee Data Exchange Layer-connected security solutions, McAfee Web Gateway offers more granular control and the ability to deploy a hybrid environment managed from the same console.
As a result, HollyFrontier is in the process of deploying its first McAfee Web Gateway appliance and McAfee Web Gateway Cloud Service. HollyFrontier employees working from home or on the road will be protected by the same corporate web security policies as users at corporate locations. In addition, any malware detected by McAfee Web Gateway is sent immediately to McAfee Advanced Threat Defense, and its information is shared throughout the enterprise. Integration and Increased Protection Ease Security Administration “With the McAfee integrated security infrastructure and McAfee ePO software, I can manage just about everything through one pane of glass,” says Fort. “That alone makes administration so much easier, but so does increased protection. If there is an infection somewhere else in the world, thanks to McAfee Threat Intelligence Exchange, my network knows about it and is protected before the infection even reaches us. If, on the other hand, the malware is detected within our environment, it is immediately sent to McAfee Advanced Threat Defense for analysis, and the rest of the environment is automatically informed. We have reduced operational overhead dramatically while improving our security posture.”
Fort has not only been impressed with McAfee products and their integration with one another, but also with McAfee personnel. “Any time I need anything, I just call or email my McAfee Security Engineer, and he responds right away,” he notes. “McAfee Platinum Support is also extremely responsive. I can usually get the help I need within a couple of minutes. We learned early on that McAfee is a strategic security partner as well as a dependable one.”

Ariel Picans, technology risk manager at Banco Delta, is responsible for overseeing the security posture of 400 endpoints and safeguarding the assets that reside both within the perimeter of the organization and in the cloud, ensuring that sensitive financial information, databases, and documents are secured against known and emerging threats. Once a year, Picans and his team conduct security checks and assessments of the infrastructure, creating vulnerability tests using various methods to make sure that alerts and filters are functioning properly. Over the years, Picans has been building out Banco Delta’s security infrastructure with solutions that, in his words, “add value and protect the bank’s environment from future attacks.” As a long-time McAfee customer,
Banco Delta was looking to upgrade to deepen and broaden protections and further simplify and consolidate security management. Additionally, Picans wanted to make sure that the bank was implementing the security controls required by compliance regulations and could provide detailed reports at audit time. McAfee Solutions Expand Security Options at Banco Delta Picans has always appreciated the advantages of the single-vendor, integrated approach offered by McAfee. Positive reviews from industry analysts like Gartner and Forrester, along with streamlined management, support, and communications prompted him to continue down the same path and explore the latest McAfee innovations, particularly McAfee® Endpoint Security 10.5 and McAfee ePO 5.9.1 software. Several years ago, Picans and his team relied on McAfee® VirusScan® Enterprise for strong antivirus and anti- malware. When he learned about McAfee Endpoint Security, Picans was impressed with the solution’s multilayered protection and made a decision to upgrade as a way of protecting Banco Delta against rapidly evolving threats. The solution provides not only antivirus but also encryption and integration with data loss prevention (DLP). McAfee Endpoint Security in collaboration with McAfee ePO software, McAfee® DLP Endpoint, the McAfee Network DLP solution, and McAfee® Network Security Platform enables him to create and enforce strict data access policies for devices both within and outside the four walls of the bank. The McAfee® Web Gateway appliance is also part of the ecosystem, using a host of techniques to analyze all web traffic and offering protection against malware and malicious code hidden through encryption.
To round out Banco Delta’s security infrastructure, Picans added McAfee® Enterprise Security Manager, a security and events management (SIEM) solution that integrates with all of the bank’s solutions. It uses advanced analytics to give Picans and his team context and to enable them to prioritize threats and assess risks. McAfee Enterprise Security Manager also centralizes and automates compliance monitoring and reporting, with pre-built dashboards, audit trails, and reports for more than 240 global regulations. “We migrated to McAfee Endpoint Security because it has opened up a wide gamut of options, all managed by a single console and a single agent. We’ve taken maximum advantage of this tool and have experienced very positive results. For all these reasons, we trust and count on McAfee security technology,” says Picans. A Collaborative Ecosystem with McAfee ePO at the Helm Since the upgrades, Picans has observed a noticeable reduction in both infections and in potentially compromising user behavior. The integration of McAfee® Threat Intelligence Exchange extends another layer of protection and speeds detection and response across the bank’s entire environment. McAfee Threat Intelligence Exchange shares threat intelligence from third-party sources and locally collected intelligence with other McAfee and third-party security solutions via the Data Exchange Layer (DXL) communications fabric. As Picans points out, all of the McAfee solutions in the bank’s integrated ecosystem can act immediately on this intelligence and swiftly block or quarantine threats. Banco Delta made a decision to add McAfee Threat Intelligence to its arsenal when Picans and his team detected an increase in usage of unauthorized applications. “Because of this, we needed a tool that provides information on whitelisted and a blacklisted applications. McAfee Threat Intelligence is the perfect solution because it provides us with visibility across the whole organization,” he says. Now Picans can customize data for his organization— including blacklists and whitelists of applications.
Reports generated by the McAfee ePO console provide an overview of executed applications—both authorized and unauthorized. This allows him to see whether somebody has been engaged in malicious or unauthorized activities. Picans and his team simply configure McAfee Threat Intelligence, let it run, and check reports on a daily basis. McAfee Solutions Keep Advanced Threats in Check and Prevent Disruption As the management hub for Banco Delta’s McAfee solutions, McAfee ePO software is integral to security operations. Picans relies on McAfee ePO software to ensure that every endpoint has antivirus and encryption, updated .DATs, and more. Picans and his team can also pull reports from the McAfee ePO dashboard with details like analysis and classification of malware by type, blocked malware, and devices that are most vulnerable to attack. Picans consolidates this information and provides the bank’s executive committee with a comprehensive view of
Banco Delta’s risk profile every month. He also finds this data useful for trend analysis. “The main benefit of this collaborative approach has been the reduction of the advanced malware and ransomware attacks that have been in circulation recently. Thanks to McAfee ePO software and our other McAfee solutions, we’ve been able to carry on without disruption, while other organizations have suffered from data breaches, putting their day-to-day operations at risk,” explains Picans. To protect against today’s continually morphing threats, Picans deployed McAfee® Advanced Threat Defense.
McAfee Advanced Threat Defense combines multiple powerful technologies—in-depth static code analysis, dynamic analysis through sandboxing, and machine learning—to help the bank accelerate detection of zero-day malware, evasive threats, and ransomware. In the first month of deployment at Banco Delta, McAfee Advanced Threat Defense proved its value by intercepting Locky, a prolific and persistent strain of ransomware that continues to reappear with new variants. Picans also uses McAfee Advanced Threat Defense to support security investigations. He points out that it has detected several malicious archives that were missed by solutions from other vendors. Picans submits these malware samples to McAfee Advanced Threat Defense to derive insights on indicators of compromise, which help him gain a better understanding of highly camouflaged threats. Since deploying these McAfee solutions, Picans has seen a significant reduction in attacks and data loss. Additionally, the integrated and connected McAfee ecosystem, with its single-console management through McAfee ePO software, has resulted in notable operational efficiencies as compared to a multivendor environment. “When you have a collection of unintegrated products with multiple management consoles, you need more people, and they need additional, highly specific training. McAfee has reduced the need for hiring additional personnel,” he affirms. “Plus, with its modular, centrally managed system, McAfee opens up a world of possibilities.” Stepping Up Security Across On-Premises, Virtualized, and Cloud Environments McAfee® Cloud Workload Security (CWS) will help increase Banco Delta’s visibility to elastic workloads in the public cloud and AWS (Amazon Web Service)/ VMware environments and will provide an integrated defense against advanced attacks. CWS with AWS is an example of how we can forge forward fearlessly in the cloud. McAfee® MOVE AntiVirus currently offers optimized security for virtualized desktops and servers. “I know that, with McAfee, I can count on having the same level of security in the cloud and in virtualized environments as we have on premises,” he notes. The bank currently has plans in the works to provide cloud-based services and applications for both external clients and internal stakeholders. When Banco Delta fully launches these cloud services, Picans and his team will be responsible for making sure all communications and data are encrypted and secure. For example, it will be really important to reassure the sales department that their information won’t be exposed and will be monitored regularly and that the bank’s databases won’t be compromised. “McAfee protects everything that’s online—not just within the network perimeter. The company’s advancements in cloud security and other innovations speak for themselves. It shows that McAfee is truly concerned about protecting its customers and that it strives to stay current with new technology trends and the evolving threat landscape,” summarizes Picans.