CheckPoint Software > Case Studies > Securing Children’s Futures: East Coast Migrant Head Start Project's IoT Solution

Securing Children’s Futures: East Coast Migrant Head Start Project's IoT Solution

Technology Category

Cybersecurity & Privacy - Malware Protection
Robots - Wheeled Robots

Applicable Industries

Education
National Security & Defense

Use Cases

Inventory Management
Tamper Detection

Services

Cybersecurity Services
System Integration

About The Customer

East Coast Migrant Head Start Project (ECMHSP) is a non-profit organization committed to preparing the children of migrant and seasonal farmworkers for success. They provide high-quality early childhood education services for children and families in a nurturing, culturally-sensitive environment and by providing services and advocating for children and families in their other areas of need. ECMHSP has 37 centers throughout the Southeastern United States from Pennsylvania to Florida, supporting almost 2500 students from first grade through high school.

The Challenge

East Coast Migrant Head Start Project (ECMHSP), a non-profit organization providing high-quality early childhood education services for children of migrant and seasonal farmworkers, faced significant challenges in protecting Personally Identifiable Information (PII) of the people it serves. As a Federal Head Start Program, ECMHSP had to comply with strict government security rules. The primary challenge was to prevent their network and employees from being undermined by phishing attacks, which accounted for up to 90% of their security breaches. The new security architecture had to support remote access from hundreds of employees, using a wide variety of mobile devices across a wide geographical area. Additionally, given limited IT resources, ECMHSP wanted to improve the efficiency of its IT team and make its employees more productive by preventing them from being overwhelmed with spam, phishing, and other malicious attacks.

The Solution

After evaluating multiple vendors, the ECMHSP IT team selected Check Point Next Generation Firewalls with SandBlast Network to provide the foundation of the company’s security architecture. The team installed IPS, VPN support, URL Filtering, as well as Anti-Bot, Anti-Virus, and Anti-spam protection. These features stopped virtually all incoming attacks. To ensure the security of remote employees, they chose Check Point SandBlast Mobile. It was simple to install, use, and support, and could be installed remotely in less than two minutes per device. To manage their new system, the security team installed Check Point R80 Unified Security Management on a virtual machine. R80 increased the efficiency of their IT team members by allowing them to monitor the entire network from a single location, enabling them to work proactively on potential issues.

Operational Impact

The implementation of Check Point's solutions yielded immediate results for ECMHSP. The organization saw a significant reduction in phishing, malware, or viral emails, which had been a major security concern. The IT team's productivity increased as a direct result of the reduction in security issues. The use of SandBlast Mobile ensured secure access for all employees, exceeding both the team's and the users' expectations. The application ran quietly in the background, allowing employees to use their mobile devices safely without jeopardizing client information. The implementation of R80 Unified Security Management provided a single, unified system for network monitoring, making the IT team's work easier and more productive.

Quantitative Benefit

Phishing, malware, or viral emails dropped to zero overnight from hundreds per week.
85-90% of security issues related to phishing attacks were eliminated, directly increasing the IT team’s productivity.
SandBlast Mobile was installed remotely in less than two minutes per device.