Published Monday, September 28, 2009 5:04 PM by Adam Bennett

“The ability to process information accurately and quickly is fundamental to Zim’s position in the container shipping industry. We wanted technology that would very accurately identify, monitor and protect data at rest and in motion while enabling us to continue to share information with our customers and other external parties. Websense Data Security Suite provides us with this ability.”
Itay Yanovski
Chief Security Officer,
Zim Integrated Shipping Services

Download the Zim Shipping case study in PDF format.

Overview

Zim Integrated Shipping Services is a global shipping company providing international transportation services to more than 30,000 customers. For over 60 years, the company has prided itself on providing end-to-end full service logistics to deliver all types of cargo safely and swiftly to a network of 180 ports on six continents.

Zim offers comprehensive local support to its customers through a network of 120 Zim-owned and affiliated agencies operating throughout the world. As part of its business, the company needs to share specific data between its offices as well as with customers, suppliers, authorities, and with other shipping companies, while ensuring that no sensitive business data accidentally leaks out.

The Problem

Before Zim implemented data loss prevention technology, there were security products in place that provided perimeter and internal protection. However, what Zim needed in addition was to actually secure its critical business information.

“Providing protection for the information systems is only going half-way. Protecting the business information itself is the main issue. To do that, we needed visibility of where our confidential data was stored, who had access to it and where it was going inside and outside our organisation,” explains Itay Yanovski, Zim’s chief security officer, responsible for the company’s information security.

At first, Websense Data Security Suite was set up as a pilot system at Zim’s headquarters to discover and monitor specific pieces of confidential material. During this trial phase, the technology proved its effectiveness in preventing strategic business data loss and clearly demonstrated positive return on investment.

“The trial immediately showed the benefits of having a data loss prevention solution. We realised that, without data monitoring in place, we are practically blind with regards to the threat of sensitive business information seeping out of the company. The results could have been very damaging to our competitive position,” adds Yanovski.

The Solution

Using Websense Data Security Suite has enabled Zim to prevent confidential data loss, secure its critical business information while ensuring that business operations continue to run effectively. The company has used Websense Data Security Suite for over two years.

The accurate discovery and classification of confidential data and its subsequent monitoring is key to how Zim uses the Websense Data Security Suite technology as an integral part of its business processes.

“The ability to process information accurately and quickly is fundamental to Zim’s position in the container shipping industry. We wanted technology that would very accurately identify, monitor and protect data at rest and in motion while enabling us to continue to share information with our customers and other external parties. Websense Data Security Suite provides us with this ability,” explains Yanovski.

Websense Data Security Suite uses Websense PreciseID™ fingerprinting technology for the accurate detection of confidential information. The technology generates an ‘information fingerprint’ to mathematically represent the data and to classify the sensitivity of that data. It includes a policy setting framework for users, data, destinations and channels, thus securing what data can go where and how.

“The fingerprinting technology is a feature we use a lot at Zim. It allows us to recognise patterns of information flow, as well as making it easier to set data security policies that map to real business processes,” says Yanovski.

The Results

The Websense technology is largely invisible to users, unless someone tries to access or send confidential information when they are not permitted to do so. “Security is a mindset, and we have found that one of the most important value indicators of a security technology lies in its ability to affect the day-to-day behaviour of our staff. We’ve done a lot of education about the importance of safeguarding confidential business information and we made our staff well aware that the information systems are constantly monitored for this purpose. We saw a greater impact when we communicated the real-life events that posed a risk to data identified using the Websense Data Security Suite, and the consequent actions that were taken. As a result, I believe that today Zim employees are more mindful about looking after business information,” comments Yanovski.

Through using data loss prevention technology, Zim has achieved better alignment between business and information security, resulting in more efficient resource allocation and more effective data protection.

Thanks to the success of Websense Data Security Suite at Zim’s head office, Yanovski and his team plan to deploy the technology into their global offices. This will enable the company to share business critical data with its regional headquarters safe in the knowledge that the data is fully protected.