The Customer

North Somerset Council is the local authority for the North Somerset region. They have a population of over 210,000 people. The council is responsible for tax collection, local planning applications, housing, waste collection, environmental health, education and many other governmental functions.

The Challenge

North Somerset Council was running on legacy platforms when it came to their cyber-security efforts. This is often the case with many public entities. Their main issue was that their existing firewalls were not Layer 7, which meant they could not perform any application-level firewalling. They were relying on traditional network-based firewalls which are focused on IP addresses. This is an outdated form of protection and it was important that they upgraded to a modern solution as soon as possible as threats have evolved since these systems were put in place. We explained the gaps that they had in their security and they asked us to perform our security assessment.

The Solution

We mapped out what they were lacking in the actual firewall standpoint and performed an ‘AB’ analysis. We showed them everything they already had and explained what they needed to do to fill their security gaps. They agreed to our findings and told us which of the gaps they wanted to address in this engagement. From a vendor-agnostic point of view, we concluded that the optimal solution to meet their goals was Palo Alto Networks. This was based on the maturation of the platform, the licensing structure and the customer’s needs.

  • We attained several Palo Alto hardware appliances and identified a couple of locations where a lot of data was flowing in and out.
  • We configured the appliances and migrated the legacy platform onto the new platform as a turnkey solution.
  • This meant they did not have to learn a new platform on the job whilst maintaining everything else.
  • Our expertise meant that all they had to do was flip a switch and everything had been done for them.
  • We were present in the office for day one support to ensure everything was working as it should be and answer any of their questions.

The Benefits

North Somerset Council were extremely pleased with the solution we provided them. They were also happy about the lack of interruption to their usual workflows. We did the work in the background and provided them with a complete solution. We filled all the holes that were left by the legacy platform. They continue to use this solution as their primary platform for firewall security today.

  • Palo Alto Networks gave them high visibility and the ability to filter by application or user.
  • They were now able to look at trends, useful dashboards, and reporting.
  • Upgrading their firewall allowed their IT staff to work much faster when it came down to investigating issues and identifying the root of problems.
north somerset council firewall migration case study
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Industry : County Council, Public Sector

Technologies Used

palo alto logo
  • Palo Alto Networks Firewalls
north somerset council firewall migration case study
Visit Website

Industry : County Council, Public Sector

Technologies Used

palo alto logo
  • Palo Alto Networks Firewalls

The Customer

North Somerset Council is the local authority for the North Somerset region. They have a population of over 210,000 people. The council is responsible for tax collection, local planning applications, housing, waste collection, environmental health, education and many other governmental functions.

The Challenge

North Somerset Council was running on legacy platforms when it came to their cyber-security efforts. This is often the case with many public entities. Their main issue was that their existing firewalls were not Layer 7, which meant they could not perform any application-level firewalling. They were relying on traditional network-based firewalls which are focused on IP addresses. This is an outdated form of protection and it was important that they upgraded to a modern solution as soon as possible as threats have evolved since these systems were put in place. We explained the gaps that they had in their security and they asked us to perform our security assessment.

The Solution

We mapped out what they were lacking in the actual firewall standpoint and performed an ‘AB’ analysis. We showed them everything they already had and explained what they needed to do to fill their security gaps. They agreed to our findings and told us which of the gaps they wanted to address in this engagement. From a vendor-agnostic point of view, we concluded that the optimal solution to meet their goals was Palo Alto Networks. This was based on the maturation of the platform, the licensing structure and the customer’s needs.

  • We attained several Palo Alto hardware appliances and identified a couple of locations where a lot of data was flowing in and out.
  • We configured the appliances and migrated the legacy platform onto the new platform as a turnkey solution.
  • This meant they did not have to learn a new platform on the job whilst maintaining everything else.
  • Our expertise meant that all they had to do was flip a switch and everything had been done for them.
  • We were present in the office for day one support to ensure everything was working as it should be and answer any of their questions.

The Benefits

North Somerset Council were extremely pleased with the solution we provided them. They were also happy about the lack of interruption to their usual workflows. We did the work in the background and provided them with a complete solution. We filled all the holes that were left by the legacy platform. They continue to use this solution as their primary platform for firewall security today.

  • Palo Alto Networks gave them high visibility and the ability to filter by application or user.
  • They were now able to look at trends, useful dashboards, and reporting.
  • Upgrading their firewall allowed their IT staff to work much faster when it came down to investigating issues and identifying the root of problems.

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