Expel > Case Studies > GreenSky Leverages Expel for Efficient Anti-Phishing Management

GreenSky Leverages Expel for Efficient Anti-Phishing Management

Technology Category

Cybersecurity & Privacy - Intrusion Detection
Sensors - Level Sensors

Applicable Industries

Education
Equipment & Machinery

Use Cases

Tamper Detection
Time Sensitive Networking

About The Customer

Founded in 2006, GreenSky, Inc. is a leading technology company that powers commerce at the point-of-sale for a growing ecosystem of merchants, consumers, and banks. The company enables nearly 18,000 merchants to offer frictionless promotional payment options to consumers, driving increased sales volume and accelerated cash flow. Banks use GreenSky’s technology to provide loans to super-prime and prime credit consumers nationwide. Since its inception, over 3.4 million consumers have financed over $25 billion of commerce using GreenSky’s paperless, real-time “apply and buy” technology.

The Challenge

GreenSky, a leading fintech company, was grappling with the challenge of phishing, one of the most pressing security concerns for the organization. Despite having an extensive phishing education and awareness program in place, the company was still vulnerable to potential phishing attempts. The company's Vice President of IT Security and Business Continuity, Lori Temples, and her team had to dedicate a significant portion of their workday to phishing, leaving them with less time to focus on more strategic projects. They had invested in a tool to automate some of the analysis of potential phishing emails, but it lacked human touch and required the GreenSky team to play an active role in the day-to-day anti-phishing efforts. The team needed a solution that could efficiently manage phishing investigations, allowing them to focus on other strategic initiatives.

The Solution

GreenSky turned to Expel, a company they had previously hired for 24x7 security monitoring. They decided to use Expel for Phishing, a solution that not only provided more insight on phishing attempts but also drastically reduced the time spent on reviewing potentially harmful emails. The solution integrated with GreenSky's endpoint detection and response (EDR) tools, allowing Expel's analysts to dig deeper into potential phishing attempts. When a potentially malicious email was detected, the Expel team would first determine its authenticity. If found malicious, they would investigate further using the EDR tool to identify who else received the email and whether anyone was compromised as a result. This process reduced the time GreenSky's team spent on reviewing phishing emails by 75 percent, freeing them to focus on more strategic projects.

Operational Impact

The partnership with Expel brought about significant operational improvements for GreenSky. The team was able to focus more on strategic projects, thanks to the reduced time spent on investigating phishing emails. The shared Slack channel with Expel facilitated faster and more thorough investigations, with immediate action on legitimate threats. The team also experienced improved executive reporting, with the ability to gather detailed data from Expel Workbench for reporting to GreenSky’s executives. This level of detail was appreciated by the management, especially in the wake of rising ransomware and COVID-related attacks. Looking ahead, GreenSky plans to use the time saved to focus on additional strategic projects and further refine their phishing awareness program based on the trends and tactics identified by Expel.

Quantitative Benefit

Reduced time spent on phishing investigations by 75 percent, from four hours a day to about one hour.
Enabled the team to focus on more strategic projects by freeing up time previously spent on phishing investigations.
Provided more detailed data about anti-phishing efforts to share with stakeholders around the company.