Intelligent CIO North America Issue 42 | Page 58

CASE STUDY
The Broncos defense
With tens of thousands of people connecting to the Broncos ’ Wi-Fi during games , concerts and other events , there is no shortage of opportunities for threat actors to compromise the organization ’ s network via external devices .
“ The technology is first and foremost , but it ’ s really about the people and the relationship . That ’ s where the rubber meets the road for our team ”, said Trainor .
He and his team implemented a unified platform approach based on several Check Point solutions . The team leverages Check Point Quantum Firewalls , Quantum Maestro Hyperscale Network Security , Harmony Endpoint and CloudGuard to prevent threats across the organization ’ s entire attack surface , he said . resource-intensive process that can also be prone to human error , resulting in service interruptions .
Unsatisfied with his firewall solutions , Trainor needed a scalable platform to secure the organization ’ s entire digital footprint .
The Broncos ’ security team now has a simple , effective solution to monitor organizational security posture .
As a result , the team can provide secure connectivity to fans and employees accessing applications and other resources – on-premises or remotely .
From helping ensure PCI DSS and HIPAA compliance to enabling new operational efficiencies , Check Point has helped the Broncos fulfill numerous security and business requirements .
Maestro acts as a rack layer managing the firewalls underneath , allowing them to be aggregated and deployed as different form factors .
“ My team really likes Maestro , because it gives us ease of use , flexibility and more time in service for our gear ,” said Trainor .
With Harmony Endpoint and CloudGuard , the security team also has full visibility of relevant connected devices and cloud-based applications .
To support business and football operations as well as event and gameday production , Trainor and Chris Newman , Senior IT Director , must ensure the organization ’ s IT infrastructure is secure and available at its two main sights – one of which , Empower Field at Mile High , is a 76 thousand-seat stadium .
From customer payment data processed on point-of-sale and e-commerce systems to player medical information and mission-critical intellectual property , a wealth of highly sensitive data traverses the Broncos ’ network daily .
Working alongside Trainor and his team to continually roll out new technology deployments , Check Point has proven to be a reliable , forwardlooking partner for the Broncos .
“ We ’ ve participated in a couple of early access programs and done some upgrades with Check Point . They ’ ve sent out developer engineers to provide support during some of the more cuttingedge updates ,” said Trainor .
With Check Point , the Broncos organization can continually develop innovative ways to improve the fan experience and drive operational efficiencies .
Trainor and other business leaders across the Broncos organization are keeping a close eye on emerging Artificial Intelligence ( AI ) and Machine Learning ( ML ) - powered cybersecurity technologies .
“ There ’ s a bit of a wild west element in the market right now but we ’ re taking the journey – looking for things that could be automated to make our jobs easier and create efficiencies ,” said Trainor .
“ We push the most data during games and concerts , with anywhere from 10 to 50 terabytes of Wi-Fi data running through the firewalls ,” said Trainor .
His team has already incorporated AI into its security workflows by using Check Point solutions like Harmony .
Previously , he had to manually distribute fan , employee and partner traffic – a time- and
“ I ’ ll lean on Check Point to help us in that regard ,” he said .
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