Guildford Borough Council faced growing demands to support a number of initiatives, which significantly impacted information security. They needed a solution to ensure that protective marking was uniformly adopted by everyone working with their data and a reliable and customizable software product which could help them enforce it, while also maintaining compliance requirements.
By rolling out Fortra's Classifier Suite, Guildford Borough Council were able to enforce information security policies in respect to their new ways of working, increase staff & partner awareness of the sensitivity of information, provide evidence to governing bodies that applicable regulations have been met and leverage investments in their other security technologies.
“We were looking for a simple, reliable and customizable software product, so that we could use our own classifications for our own business needs. Additionally we were looking for a vendor who had the development prowess to customize the product for us, integrate it with existing products such as our email encryption tool and keep it up-to-date with our technology base. We found both in [Fortra].” Steve Wragge-Morley, Head of Business Systems, GBC
The Challenge
As an organization whose main focus is the promotion of keeping data safe, iSecure realized that it was key to ensure that the data being processed on a daily basis within the organization was being securely stored. With a constantly growing team, and a continually increasing number of clients, iSecure wanted to find a solution which would help them to automatically protect the sensitive data they create and store - which is made up of internal data, as well as the information they are provided with, or generate, for their clients.
iSecure realized that as their business was steadily growing, it was becoming more and more of a task for senior staff to have to keep assessing the value of all the information that was being created throughout the organization. Ensuring all information is correctly assessed for its value is particularly important within iSecure, as access to certain levels of information differs dependent on seniority within the organization, as well as who is working on certain projects.
Although conscious of acting in a secure manner at all times while handling data, iSecure were aware of the data loss risk associated with user error, and hence wanted to reduce the incidence of accidental data loss at all costs.
The Solution
iSecure knew when looking for a data classification solution that they wanted a tool that was user-friendly and easy to maintain and update should business requirements change. In addition it was paramount to ensure the solution fitted into the user’s everyday routine with ease. It was also important that the solution they were going to implement allowed them to classify data in the exact way they wanted to, and would allow them to control the distribution of the various types of information they handle.
Fortra's Classifier Suite was the only solution iSecure looked at, as the product fully met all of their requirements and expectations from the outset. They were able to fully define the types of labels they required, which allowed them to customize Classifier in a way that was fully functional to the information they are working with.
“We have implemented a great tool which supports every aspect of our work relating to confidential information.”
Implementation of Classifier into the organization was smooth, with the tool slotting in to working life with no disruption to business processes or user experience, and iSecure have testified that they have seen immediate benefits from the solution. As well as all users being able to classify the information they were creating and managing, it also ensured that e-mail correspondence would also be classified – minimizing all risk of data being sent to an incorrect recipient.
Conclusion
Fortra's Classifier Suite has been adopted, and welcomed, by all employees at iSecure due to its ease of use and comprehensive functionality. With the security policy outlined for all employees to see, the governance of sensitive information within the organization is easier than it has ever been. This in turn has shown the solution to be an immediate success within the organization, and will ensure that throughout the future, as more and more information is being created and handled, iSecure are fully prepared to ensure complete security of their confidential data.
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