Dell’s IT Security Vision and Portfolio of Solutions in Action

Padlock icon signs hanging from a ceilingWhen most of us hear about data breaches a few high-profile examples pop into our mind and we worry about the safety of our personal information. While sites like SC Magazine’s Data Breach Blog can scare you with how many lower-profile breaches happen every day, an even scarier thought is the number worldwide that we don’t hear about because of lack of disclosure laws.

Now think beyond the worry of whether your own data is safe and imagine being responsible for the personal information of millions of people.

Many corporate and government organizations are fending off ongoing targeted and purposeful attacks that create constantly shifting threats.

"The number of attacks is staggering, and expanding at an astounding rate. In the past year alone, we prevented 1.06 trillion intrusion events in 249 countries. That's not a typo: 1.06 trillion intrusion events. In one year," noted Michael Dell in regard to how we at Dell secure and protect data for companies of all sizes.

In this environment, standard security protocols do not adequately protect the modern IT ecosystem. Due to tech trends such as BYOD and cloud computing, the traditional approach of building a single security defense tower leaves myriad access points on the perimeter of an organization vulnerable to attack. Today’s organizations need a security approach that provides protection from the network to users and ultimately end points and the cloud.

With this set of powerful security tools, Dell’s customers have been able to mitigate risks, and, as a result, accelerate their business results. There are multiple ways to secure an organization’s IT infrastructure from inside-out and outside-in. Dell’s IT security vision and extensive portfolio of solutions give customers the power to solve their biggest vulnerability and compliance challenges today. One method that our customers have seen success with is to prevent and protect against attacks from the perimeter. Here are just three real-world examples:

Text of quote from Massage Envy IT manager

  • Massage Envy is one of the nation’s leading health and wellness franchises with a large database of customer information to protect. To ensure PCI compliance at its clinics across the country, Massage Envy deploys Dell SonicWALL next generation firewall solutions to great success. Since implementing Dell security solutions, the organization has seen malware reduced by up to 30 percent while its IT personnel saves 32 hours every week through the simplified process of centralized management of more than 960 firewalls. As Massage Envy’s business expanded, Dell met the franchises’ needs for an enterprise-grade IT solution that could scale to accommodate growth while boosting security and ease-of-management.

“We consider our firewalls to be one of the most important parts of our IT solution,” said Stacey Arellano, IT program manager, Massage Envy Spa. “We needed firewalls that provided the level of security that we required for a national brand, but were still affordable for owners of small or medium-sized businesses. Because all of our sites now use a standardized Dell solution, we fully understand all of the technologies throughout our infrastructure so we can mitigate risks.”

  • The International Center for Biosaline Agriculture (ICBA), a world class research facility in Dubai housing a team of international scientists working to improve farming in marginal and arid environments, leverages Dell security solutions to optimize cyber defense of its high-level research data. ICBA uses a direct link with NASA satellites and stations to receive weather and forecast outputs, and requires uninterrupted security during data transfers. That’s where Dell’s end-to-end security solutions come in. Dell SonicWALL NSA 3500 Next Generation Firewall integrates intrusion prevention, malware protection, and application intelligence and control with real-time virtualization. Combined with Dell SonicWALL Email Security ES3300, ICBA rests easy while transferring sensitive research data on a daily basis.

Each of these businesses are growing and innovating in a world where BYOD and cloud computing have opened up new access points for cybercriminals to infiltrate and sidestep static security solutions. The hackers aren’t going away, but Dell matches their determination by providing protection for every vulnerability from the end user to the data center to the cloud. 

About the Author: Laura Pevehouse

Laura Pevehouse was profiled as one of five “social media mavens” in the March 2009 issue of Austin Woman Magazine and named an AdWeek’s TweetFreak Five to Follow. She has been part of the Dell organization for more than 15 years in various corporate communications, employee communications, public relations, community affairs, marketing, branding, social media and online communication roles. From 2014-2018, Laura was Chief Blogger/Editor-in-Chief for Direct2DellEMC and Direct2Dell, Dell’s official corporate blog that she help launch in 2007. She is now a member of the Dell Technologies Chairman Communications team. Earlier in her Dell career she focused on Global Commercial Channels and US Small and Medium Business public relations as part of the Global Communications team. Prior to that, she was responsible for global strategy in social media and community management, as well as marcom landing pages, as a member of Dell’s Global SMB Marketing, Brand and Creative team. When she was part of Dell’s Global Online group, Laura provided internal consulting that integrated online and social media opportunities with a focus on Corporate Communications and Investor Relations. She managed the home page of Dell.com, one of the top 500 global web sites in Alexa traffic rank, and first brought web feeds and podcasts to the ecommerce site. In her spare time she led Dell into the metaverse with the creation of Dell Island in the virtual world Second Life. Laura has earned the designation of Accredited Business Communicator from the International Association of Business Communicators, and received her Bachelor of Arts in Journalism from Louisiana State University. Before joining Dell Financial Services in 2000, she worked at the Texas Workforce Commission and PepsiCo Food Systems Worldwide.