The foundation for global data center connectivity Size: 17,000 employees | Industry: Information services | Location: Dublin, Ireland Experian is a global leader in consumer and business credit reporting and marketing services. A constituent of the United Kingdom’sFinancial Times Stock Exchange (FTSE) 100 Index, the company generates total revenue of more than US$4.3 billion annually.Experian supports clients in more than 80 countries and employs approximately 17,000 people in 37 countries. Results • Implemented the network foundation for global data center connectivity • Aligned the visibility and control of physical and virtual environments Challenges • Standardize network architecture and policies across dozens of data centers • Improve the visibility and control of infrastructure systems and traffic Solutions • Application-centric, software-defined network with: - Multipod capability - Virtual data switching - Centralized, automated infrastructure management • Converged infrastructure • Traffic telemetry and analysis “ACI Virtual Edge will eliminate the need of VLAN management. It will allow us to configure once and deploy everywhere, which will save a ton of time and cost.” - Robert Abner, Senior network engineer, Experian Challenge: Standardizing network operations around the world “Data is our product,” says Robert Abner, senior network engineer at Experian. “We gather information from a variety of sources, and then we analyze, process, and package it for our customers. There’s a lot of data coming in and going out at all times, and our services need to be available at all times.” This is difficult to accomplish when the services are managed, secured, and delivered from dozens of disparate data centers and colocation sites in multiple regions. So Experian launched a global data center innovation initiative. “We have 50 to 60 sites around the world, and we needed them to be more alike,” says Abner. “We wanted a standardized network architecture with consistency for how applications are deployed and managed and how data is transported.” “We’re putting more workloads onto ACI, we’re implementing more automation, and we’re extending the fabric to our other data centers. It’s different, and it’s very exciting.” Robert Abner,Senior network engineer, Experian Experian also sought network automation, allowing changes to be made universally instead of one switch, one data center, one region at a time.  As the foundational elements of its data center innovation initiative, Experian deployed Cisco ACI— the industry’s leading software-defined network fabric—in tandem with the Intel® Xeon® processorbased Cisco UCS. Connecting data centers in key regions Before Experian connects its data centers around the globe, it is using Cisco ACI Multipod functionality to link the data centers within three key regions. “Cisco ACI has given us the ability to do things we couldn’t do before,” Abner claims. “Using ACI Multipod, we’ve been able to logically connect multiple sites within the U.S., the U.K., and Brazil, which allows them to be managed as one big data center in each of those regions.” These unified fabrics have led to a number of benefits, he explains. Regional resources are now managed collectively. Workloads have been spread among multiple sites for greater redundancy. Spanning tree issues that caused service interruptions have been eliminated. And a significant portion of north-south traffic has been turned into east-west traffic using contracts and filters, reducing the load on the company’s firewalls and improving overall performance. “We have much more granular traffic, policy, and security control,” Abner notes. “We can make a change to a single tenant or server with contracts and filters, for example, instead of making changes to the firewalls. It’s easier, less risky, and doesn’t impact the entire environment.” Aligning virtual and physical environments To further extend data center consistency and operational efficiency, Experian is now testing and preparing to deploy the new Cisco ACI Virtual Edge. The next generation of the Cisco Application Virtual Switch (AVS), ACI Virtual Edge is a hypervisor-independent virtual appliance that pushes the functionality and control of Cisco ACI into virtual environments. “ACI Virtual Edge will eliminate the need of VLAN management,” Abner says. “It will allow us to configure once and deploy everywhere, which will save a ton of time and cost.” Experian is also planning to utilize the distributed firewall capability of ACI Virtual Edge as well as Cisco Tetration for greater visibility and management of its workloads and traffic flows— spanning both virtual and physical environments. The distributed, stateful firewall built into ACI Virtual Edge will allow the company to track the communications between virtual and physical machines. And Cisco Tetration will enable Experian to fully map its legacy applications, including data flows, rules, and dependencies. “As we port our legacy applications to the new fabric, we don’t want to move all of the old rules and ACLs (access control lists) with them,” Abner states. “We want to optimize the applications and get rid of the ports and rules that are no longer needed. Tetration will automate much of that work and provide additional visibility moving forward.” Increasing flexibility and control In addition to standardizing its network architecture and provisioning policies, Experian is utilizing the segmentation capabilities of Cisco ACI to attain additional control over its data resources. “We have the flexibility to take our legacy environment, move it onto the new fabric, and then segment the subnets into multiple endpoint groups,” Abner explains. “Those endpoint groups are locked by default and can’t talk with others, even in the same IP space.” Cisco ACI is also relieving the headache of managing a multitude of subnets, VLANs, ACLs, and logs. “We have a lot of very large ACLs, and if one is built incorrectly, it can cause a number of problems,” Abner says. “With ACI and Tetration, we can clean them up and better understand what traffic is needed and what isn’t.” Looking ahead Experian is now in the process of evaluating Cisco ACI Multi-Site capability to logically and securely connect additional data centers around the world. With a standardized and connected network fabric, the company will be able to manage data center policies and maintain architectural consistency globally instead of regionally. “We’re putting more workloads onto ACI, we’re implementing more automation, and we’re extending the fabric to our other data centers,” says Abner. “It’s different, and it’s very exciting.” 

Since it’s founding in 1902, Scheels has grown from three acres of potatoes to a sporting goods chain with 26 locations in 11 states, including the largest allsports store in the world. It’s an unlikely trajectory but one that was propelled by a commitment to customer service that began with the retailer’s founder, Frederick A. Scheel, and remains a cornerstone for success. Just as SCHEELS sporting goods experts are dedicated to ensuring customers get the most from their shopping experience, SCHEELS IT experts Josh Diemert and Perry Stockwell are dedicated to helping the company get the most from its infrastructure and resources while protecting the company from cyber threats. For years, SCHEELS relied on a vendormanaged security solution that had become costly, difcult to manage, and used aging infrastructure. Set to open two more stores by 2020, the company realized that it needed to ensure that its infrastructure could scale and keep pace with both the dynamic threat landscape and its growing business. “Our vendor-managed solution was difcult to work with and expensive,” explains Josh Diemert, Lead Systems Administrator, SCHEELS. “Every time we wanted to make a change to a policy it could take up to a day and it wasn’t always done correctly.” But the prospect of moving away from an outsourced model had to be carefully considered. “Our IT team runs lean – we needed a way to bring security in-house without adding a whole lot of work for our staf,” adds Diemert. At the same time, the company was considering a structural redesign that would eliminate the need to backhaul trafc to the corporate ofce, which would improve service quality to its stores and reduce bandwidth costs. Making this change would also require that the team have greater visibility and control over Internet access at each store to manage security in-house. SCHEELS has nearly 80 Cisco ASA with FirePOWER Services models deployed, the vast majority being the ASA 5506-X. In addition to the stateful frewall, the team uses FirePOWER Services including Advanced Malware Protection (AMP) for Networks, URL fltering, Application Visibility and Control (AVC), and NextGeneration IPS to deliver more integrated and efective security. The team centrally manages all the stores through the FireSIGHT® Management Center. Perry Stockwell, SCHEELS’ systems administrator, relies on the intelligence provided through this single pane of glass, including the events log, URL filtering, indicators of compromise (IoC), and prioritization fags, to strengthen the retailer’s security posture. “The FireSIGHT® Management Center allows us to see what’s happening and make changes quickly. For example we can push out a policy change in under an hour, when previously it would have taken at least eight hours working through a third party,” Stockwell explains. “And the system will do a lot for us automatically – blocking malicious links without us having to do anything, preventing infected guest machines from connecting, and restricting user access according to policies.” Stockwell points out that one of the biggest security concerns for retailers right now is ransomware. In the battle against threats that use email as an attack vector, Stockwell believes that employee education on safe habits to ensure they know how to recognize and not click on potential malware is an important part of any security program. Still, mistakes will happen and threats are increasingly sophisticated so multilayered protection is also necessary to help defeat advanced malware. For example, Cisco AMP for Networks has allowed the team to catch malware that the anti-virus solution has missed. Stockwell elaborates, “The extra layer of malware protection at the network with AMP for Networks has helped us detect malware that was attempting to call out to a command and control server, and block it before it was successful.” As SCHEELS continues to expand with a new store in Colorado and another in Texas, the team is confdent in its ability to keep pace. “With our previous vendor, getting devices into a store was a very lengthy process and could take over a month,” notes Stockwell. “Given how quickly this initial rollout went, we feel we have the process down and a template we can use to get a store up and running in a matter of hours.” “We are always looking to improve security everywhere,” concludes Diemert. “Moving to Cisco saved us money and is allowing us to apply resources to additional areas – increasing our endpoint protection with AMP for Endpoints is our next area of focus.” Products and Services • Cisco ASA 5506-X with FirePOWER Services • Cisco ASA 5516-X with FirePOWER Services • Cisco ASA 5525-X with FirePOWER Services • FireSIGHT Management Center • Cisco FirePOWER Services in use: - Cisco Advanced Malware Protection (AMP) for Networks - URL fltering - Application Visibility and Control (AVC) - Next-Generation IPS With Cisco ASA with FirePOWER Services, SCHEELS can:

• Cut response time from hours to minutes.
• Detect and stop threats that evade the anti-virus solution.
• Deploy devices at new stores in couple of hours vs. more than a month.

Business Challenges • Needed to protect nation’s critical infrastructure • Lacked centralized visibility across its more than 100 locations • Needed to deliver secure, reliable services to millions of customers  Network Solution • Next-generation firewall technology • Advanced network visibility and security analytics • Industry-leading email security with malware protection Business Results • Dramatically reduced network blind spots • Accelerated incident detection and response • Enhanced IT and security team efficiency, saving time and costs 
Product List Security • Cisco ASA 5525-X and 5545-X with FirePOWER™ Services • Cisco Stealthwatch • Cisco Email Security Appliance C380 with AMP • Cisco Content Security Management Appliance M380 • Cisco FireSIGHT® Management Center 
Business Challenges The National Water Company (NWC) of Saudi Arabia is a government-owned utility provider established to deliver exceptional water and wastewater treatment services in accordance with global best practices. NWC specializes in providing high-quality drinking water to the citizens of Saudi Arabia, as well as ensuring the presence of water and wastewater connections in all households, and preserving natural water resources and the environment. NWC prides itself on providing services that are innovative, efficient, reliable, and environmentally and financially sustainable. The water utility operates across four major cities in Saudi Arabia, and has between 7000 and 8000 employees, as well as an equal number of contractors. To be a world class water utility, NWC knew that a strong, secure network would be critical for its success. The company also plays an important role in ensuring that Saudi Arabia’s critical infrastructure is protected from every angle. Network Solution NWC’s first exposure to Cisco® Security was with the Cisco Adaptive Security Appliance (ASA), which NWC inherited at each of its 100-plus branch offices from the Saudi Arabian government when the company was formed in 2010. NWC also uses a full suite of Cisco routers and switches at both its branch offices and headquarters.  Today, that infrastructure is being used to support and help enable a comprehensive security platform that protects more than 15,000 devices. It includes Cisco NextGeneration Firewalls, Advanced Malware Protection (AMP), the Cisco Email Security Appliance, and the Cisco Stealthwatch™ solution for network visibility and security analytics. NWC’s initial implementation of the Cisco ASA has evolved into NextGeneration Firewall protection complete with FirePOWER™ Services for multilayered threat defense across all of its branch networks. Using the Cisco ASA 5525-X and 5545-X with FirePOWER Services, NWC is able to combine advanced, threat-focused firewall technology with value-added features, including malware protection, URL filtering, next-generation intrusion prevention, and application visibility and control, all from a single appliance. This eliminates the cost and complexity of buying and managing multiple solutions, and helps reduce blind spots caused by disjointed, piecemeal security solutions. Extended Network Visibility To build on the perimeter security provided by the Adaptive Security Appliance, NWC turned to Cisco Stealthwatch to obtain much-needed visibility across the extended network – including at the network core and edge, and in the data center, branch, and cloud. NWC selected Stealthwatch for its ability to collect flow data and provide insight into all network traffic across each of its locations. In addition to its ability to scale and collect massive volumes of data, NWC also embraced Stealthwatch for its quick analysis of network traffic, and because it can automatically prioritize potential issues for its IT staff. “When we were evaluating NetFlow analysis solutions, there was no one competitor to Stealthwatch that was comprehensive, fast, and efficient,” says NWC’s Senior IT Manager Hakem S. Al Sagri. “We would have had to purchase three or four different solutions to get all of the features and performance of Stealthwatch. It gives us a very good indication of what’s going on in the network.” Some of the specific features that led NWC to select Stealthwatch include its indepth traffic monitoring and mapping, and the ability to detect both known and unknown threats. Advanced Email Security NWC rounds out its security platform with the Cisco Email Security Appliance for protection against email-based attacks, including spam, viruses, and phishing. NWC appreciates the Email Security Appliance, one of the top products in the industry, for its value-added Advanced Malware Protection solution. NWC also likes the ability to control all of its email appliances (including in the branches) through a single management console, instead of having to go to multiple boxes. Business Results Cisco Stealthwatch With Cisco Security, NWC operates a safer environment for supporting its thousands of employees and better serving its customers. In addition to providing early warnings for a wide range of attacks such as malware and DDoS attempts, Stealthwatch has also helped NWC with concerns over network and application slowdowns.  In the past, NWC would spend days investigating network and security issues, and it would be difficult to determine which team was responsible. Now, the IT teams can quickly determine the cause of the issue and remediate it within just minutes. “Without Stealthwatch, you’re blind,” says Al Sagri. “You don’t have a view of what’s going on in your network, and you don’t know what’s happening. Stealthwatch makes you see things better and makes you more proactive in isolating incidents. It gives the security operations center (SOC) team more insight so that, before anything even happens, they know what’s going on.” Next-Generation Firewalls “The beauty of the Cisco Next-Generation Firewall is the Layer 7 visibility,” says NWC Network and Security Manager Majed A. Alodaib. He explains that NWC’s IT team can easily see into the application layer and set and manage policies for various programs, saving the team both time and operational costs. Al Sagri adds that the Next-Generation Firewall “simply makes life easier.” He says the Cisco FireSIGHT® Management Center makes the technology simple and easy to manage. Email Security with AMP Regarding the Cisco Email Security Appliance, Alodaib says he appreciates the ability to create very specific, granular email policies with it, and pointed out that this is not possible with competitive products. NWC also finds that many malicious emails are blocked each month based on the AMP add-on feature, another valuable capability that was not available with NWC’s previous email security solution. “The security stakes are high for National Water Company,” said Mohammad Alabsi, Cisco Enterprise Country Manager. “They cannot afford to suffer from major incidents. Cisco gives them a comprehensive, integrated solution for effectively detecting and stopping a wide range of attacks before they lead to large-scale issues.” 

All roads to the Olympics start with a dream. For the over 15,000 Olympic and Paralympic athletes from 205 countries who congregated in Rio de Janeiro in 2016, it’s the dream of competing at the highest level possible. It’s also about standing on the podium wearing a gold medal while their country’s flag rises and the national anthem plays. For Cisco, as a proud supporter of the 2016 Olympic and Paralympic Games in Rio, it also starts with a dream: that when we securely connect everything,anything is possible. Supporting a global event of this size is a monumental task that demands a network like no other. The Rio 2016 Games required connectivity, bandwidth, security, and support for: • 37 competition venues • More than 100 support venues • 15,000 athletes • 70,000 volunteers • 9 million ticketholders • 25,000 media personnel • 123 network broadcasters from around the world All this while delivering 170,000 hours of video content and providing infrastructure for 5 billion TV viewers – up from 4 billion viewers for the London Olympics in 2012. In short, if this network were competing in the Olympics, it would break world records. However, simply providing the infrastructure wasn’t enough. Cisco also had to provide effective security. “The challenge we faced at Rio 2016 was making memorable Games, and one crucial aspect was to provide uninterrupted connectivity to our athletes, guests, media, and critical systems, all while keeping everything secure,” said Marcelo Souza, Technology Systems General Manager of the Rio 2016 Organizing Committee for the Olympic Games. “We needed a vendor that could handle the traffic demands in a complex environment and deliver the security needed for such a monumental event.” Comparisons don’t come easy when we talk about a world stage event such as the Olympic Games. Securely connecting the Games required 60 tons of equipment and more than 60,000 hours of work. As the official networking and enterprise server supporter and supplier, Cisco deployed over 5,000 access points (a 400 percent increase from the London 2012 Games) and over 113,000 local area network (LAN) ports. Cisco also supplied 440 Cisco Unified Computing System™ (Cisco UCS®) servers, 480 vehicle routers, and 177 security devices. IIn addition, the Cisco network protected core activities such as accreditation, volunteers, sports entries and qualifications, and workforce management. The network connected 183,044 unique devices of which 168,158 were wireless (92 percent of all devices). Cisco Identity Services Engine (ISE) and Cisco TrustSec technology were used to identify devices and segment accordingly. Any unrecognized device would connect to the guest network. Network traffic was extremely heavy – 2.144 petabytes of traffic over the course of the Games. To put that into perspective, it’s equivalent to 950,000 hours of HD video, which would take more than 110 years of nonstop streaming to watch. As a highly visible target for sophisticated threats from around the world, the Rio 2016 Games demanded a security architecture that is fundamentally integrated into the network. Cisco Talos, an industry-leading threat intelligence organization, reviewed the sheer number of threats mitigated on the network. During the first two weeks of the Games, there were 674 times the number of Trojans detected on the network compared to a typical large retail corporate environment during the same time. “The network had to handle a substantially larger number of BYOD (Bring Your Own Device) technology than you would commonly see in a corporate environment. A larger percentage of these devices were infected with Trojans and various other malware families. This goes to show how important it is to have proper checks in place for corporate devices from both an external and internal network perspective,” said JJ Cummings of Cisco Talos. As the first line of defense, Cisco Umbrella (formerly OpenDNS) was deployed to prevent access to malicious sites. Umbrella found and blocked hundreds of Olympic-related fake domains. Over the course of the Rio 2016 Games, it protected on average 22 million DNS requests and blocked 23,000 suspicious sites daily. At the network edge, Cisco Firepower Next- Generation Firewall and NextGeneration Intrusion Prevention System appliances prevented close to 7 million security events during the Games. On the network, millions of devices were monitored for anomalous activity through Cisco Stealthwatch, and potentially vulnerable endpoints were identified and automatically segmented away from the rest of the network using Cisco ISE and Cisco TrustSec technology. “The result was an amazing experience for everyone in Rio. Cisco provided us with the connectivity and security that allowed Rio 2016 to connect with the world,” remarked Souza. In a span of just 40 days, Cisco successfully secured and connected key networks that made the Olympic and Paralympic Games a resounding success. From London to Rio, to Tokyo and beyond, there has never been a better time to build an Olympic legacy. Products and Services Cisco ASA 5500-X with FirePOWER Services Cisco FirePOWER Services in use: • Cisco Advanced Malware Protection (AMP) for Networks • URL filtering • Application Visibility and Control (AVC) • Next-Generation IPS Cisco FirePOWER Next-Generation Intrusion Prevention System Cisco Security Manager Cisco Identity Services Engine Cisco TrustSec Technology Cisco Secure Access Control System Cisco Stealthwatch Cisco Umbrella Cisco Prime Network Registrar
At the Rio 2016 Olympic Games, Cisco:

• Blocked an average of 23,000 suspicious sites daily using Cisco Umbrella
• Delivered a secure network that handled over 2.144 PB of traffic
• Provided secure access for attendees, staff, media, and athletes across 37 competition venues

When Victoria University of Wellington experiences an earthquake, it needs consistent security policies and simplified operations to protect data and maintain uptime. The university’s Information Technology Services team used Cisco firewall geo-clustering technology to build safeguards and security into its network and technology environment. Challenges

• Link campus data center with mirrored disaster recovery site
• Help ensure high availability of data centers in earthquake-prone region
• Streamline operations, security policies, reduce IT costs to support academic community
• University campus lobby

Solutions

• Cisco next-generation firewalls with geo-clustering paired with refreshed Cisco data center
• Two business professionals talk on a park bench

Products and Services Security • Cisco ASA 5585-S40 Next Generation Firewalls Data Center • Cisco Nexus® 7000 9-Slot Switch • Cisco Nexus 5510 Switch • Cisco Nexus 5548UP Switch • Cisco Catalyst® 3750 Switch • Cisco Catalyst 2960 Series Switches Routers • Cisco ASR 9010 Router • Cisco ASR 9006 Router • Cisco ASR 1002 Router Network Management • Cisco 5508 Wireless Controllers Results

• Helped enable consolidation of multisite data center policies that are easy to set up and use
• Facilitated data center redundancy to ensure high availability in earthquake-prone area
• Lowered cost of ownership by 20%

"With the geo-clustered configuration, the team was able to manage hundreds of applications all in-house, and easily share security policies." - Simon Warren, Senior Networking Engineer, Victoria University of Wellington

Large Enterprise Computer Software Company This case study of a large enterprise computer software company is based on a May 2018 survey of Cisco Email Security customers by TechValidate, a 3rd-party research service. The profiled company asked to have their name blinded to protect their confidentiality.
“We have been able to make extensive use of Cisco Email Security’s ability to create custom content filters. We have relied on those to better protect against BEC emails, W2 and payroll fraud, and other phishing emails.”
“I appreciate the ability to customize the way the platform works, specifically with regards to the content filters – they can be powerful.”
Challenges The business challenges that led the profiled company to evaluate and ultimately select Cisco Email Security:
Chose Cisco Email Security to protect their Office 365 email because Cisco has: Stronger protection from advanced email threats (business email compromise (BEC), advanced malware and/or phishing) Protects sensitive information in outgoing emails with: Microsoft Office 365 built-in tools Evaluated the following vendors prior to choosing Cisco Email Security:

• Proofpoint
• Symantec
• Mimecast

Use Case The key features and functionalities of Cisco Email Security that the surveyed company uses:
Purchased Advanced Malware Protection (AMP) and Cisco Email Security at the same time. Using the following Cisco products in addition to Cisco Email Security:

• AMP for Endpoints or AMP on another product
• AnyConnect
• Identity Services Engine (ISE)
• Next-Generation Intrusion Prevention System
• Umbrella
• Cisco Web Security (CWS)

Results The surveyed company achieved the following results with Cisco Email Security: Protecting users from threats in incoming email to prevent breaches Company Profile The company featured in this case study asked to have its name publicly blinded because publicly endorsing vendors is against their policies.TechValidate stands behind the authenticity of this data.
Company Size:Large Enterprise
Industry:Computer Software

This case study of a small business insurance company is based on a June 2018 survey of Cisco Email Security customers by TechValidate, a 3rd-party research service. The profiled company asked to have their name blinded to protect their confidentiality.
“Cisco Email Security allows us to get insight and control spam/malicious email. It also allows us to better track all email.”
Challenges Evaluated the following vendors prior to choosing Cisco Email Security: None. Our 3rd party vendor offered no alternatives. Use Case The key features and functionalities of Cisco Email Security that the surveyed company uses:

• Purchased Advanced Malware Protection (AMP) after purchasing Cisco Email Security.
• Using the following Cisco products in addition to Cisco Email Security:
• Identity Services Engine (ISE)

Results The surveyed company achieved the following results with Cisco Email Security:

• Protected users from threats in incoming email to prevent breaches
• Act as a Spam and Graymail filter

Company Profile The company featured in this case study asked to have its name publicly blinded because publicly endorsing vendors is against their policies.
TechValidate stands behind the authenticity of this data.
Company Size: Small Business
Industry: Insurance
About Cisco Email Security Defend against ransomware, business email compromise, spoofing, phishing, and spam while protecting sensitive data with data loss prevention (DLP) and encryption.