Case Study #3
Spyware “Moves” into the College Dorms. With thousands of students and faculty using the college networks to access the Internet, one particular college was concerned about spyware infecting their systems. They were worried that requiring virus protection would be difficult to enforce and manage as the equipment was owned by the students. Adapting to the individual needs of each client is one of Ra Security Systems founding principles. In this case, Ra Security Systems recognized the need of the college to balance an open environment with controlling spyware. Ra Security Systems implemented an inventive solution, called Black Hole DNS, which blacklisted DNS entries for known spyware providers. The college was very pleased with the near elimination of spyware on their networks. The college was even more satisfied with the secondary result of dramatically lower network and Internet bandwidth utilization.
Conclusion: Spyware can not only steal information, it can use up huge amounts of network bandwidth, both of which can cost a company a lot of money. To manage a difficult and dynamic threat like spyware, layered overlapping controls are most effective.
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