When it comes to customer IT security, every minute counts in the fight against modern Trojans and viruses. Elektro Kreutzpointner knows this too. The Bavarian electrical company is therefore switching its customers to SecuMail^® – a clever network of filter servers that is automatically up to date in terms of cybercrime. Without time-consuming external updates.

 

In 1923, the starting signal was given for the company Elektro Kreutzpointner , based in Burghausen, Upper Bavaria. Since then, the family-run business has grown over three generations to become one of the largest Bavarian electrical companies. Kreutzpointner’s customers also support in IT matters include public institutions, industrial companies, office and commercial buildings, as well as hospitals and airports. And for all these customers, one topic is becoming increasingly important: spam messages – the annoying and unsolicited e-mails that clog up the mailbox, prevent employees from working and, in the worst case, infect the company network with viruses and Trojans.

 

 

 

 

 

H. Siegert, Infrastructure and IT Security

 

 

Problem: On-premise solution forces time-consuming adjustments via remote maintenance

In order to protect customers from cybercrime, Kreutzpointner has relied on security appliances in the past – an on-premise combination of spam filter and virus protection. “However, in times when new Trojans and viruses are circulating every day, this solution was too cumbersome in terms of responsiveness,” recalls Heinz Siegert, responsible for infrastructure and IT security at Elektro Kreutzpointner. “This is because we had to carry out updates and adjustments via remote maintenance for each new threat. The high time required meant a security risk for those customers who received the update or adjustment last. And our IT systems department lost half a working day.” Siegert therefore set out to find a new way to guarantee customers the best possible protection and at the same time save time and energy in its own IT systems department.

 

Solution: SecuMail^® eliminates the need for external updates and security adjustments

Siegert found what he was looking for at WorNet AG – a provider of IT and hosting solutions from Geretsried-Gelting in the Bavarian Oberland, 35 kilometers south of Munich. WorNet offers an e-mail filtering service called SecuMail^® , which works as a security instance between corporate networks and the Internet. Like a kind of taster, a network of filter servers checks the emails before they make their way to the customer’s mail server and blocks spam and messages with dangerous attachments. This takes a maximum of ten seconds. “Companies benefit from a gain in security, as the e-mail filtering service renders dangerous messages harmless before they reach the company network,” says SecuMail^® product manager Hannes Wilhelm.

Siegert: “We are investing the time we have gained in our expansion”

The highlight: Elektro Kreutzpointner no longer has to worry about updates and adjustments for its customers. The experts at WorNet ensure that SecuMail’s^® filters can handle the latest threats at all times for all customer accounts. “We know that WorNet updates the filters as quickly as possible – usually before we know anything about the new danger. In this way, we offer our customers security,” says Siegert. But that’s not all: Elektro Kreutzpointner has also relieved the time of its own IT systems department. “Since we no longer have to carry out security updates, we save half a working day per week,” says Siegert. “We are investing the time we have gained in our expansion.”

Effective protection against viruses and Trojans: Filters have a hit rate
of 99.9%

Elektro Kreutzpointner also uses SecuMail^® for its own corporate IT and is very satisfied with the results. “The filters work very well, we have a very high hit rate. In the test phase, the system filtered out around 26,000 spam messages out of 90,000 e-mails with a hit rate of 99.9 percent,” says Siegert. “But that’s not a problem, because the blocked e-mails are not lost, but are visible in a daily report and can be forwarded on request,” explains Wilhelm. And the filters are even self-learning. “They automatically register that they should not have filtered a forwarded message and adapt accordingly.” In a two-week test room with 550 e-mails, a 100 percent hit rate was even achieved for one customer. The number of SecuMail^® users, including renowned pharmaceutical and financial companies, is growing accordingly. A total of 1,000,000 e-mails per day now run from the cloud via the filter service.

 

SecuMail^® can be operated intuitively without training

The changeover to SecuMail^® went smoothly for Elektro Kreutzpointner and the customers. “At the beginning, we were a little worried that customers would need some time to get used to the new system,” Siegert recalls. “But the changeover worked from one day to the next. The system is intuitively understandable, so we had almost no training effort. That was a WOW effect for us. We had prepared ourselves for training, but no one needed our help. SecuMail^® is really a reliable and easy-to-integrate spam and virus filter. I don’t know of any other product that works comparatively effectively.”

And the cooperation with WorNet was also productive and based on partnership. Siegert: “We were unhappy with the service of our old on-premise solution, as contact persons were hardly available. It’s completely different with WorNet. We can reach our contact persons at any time, without long waiting times. This high availability means a considerable relief for us in our everyday work.”

Data protection made in Germany: SecuMail^® is hosted in Munich

Another advantage of SecuMail^® is the high level of data security. “For many of our customers, cloud solutions have been a red rag in the past,” says Siegert. “They were particularly skeptical when the locations of the servers on which the spam filters are hosted were unknown, i.e. when sensitive data could be redirected via America or Asia. This concern is partly justified. That’s why we’re glad that WorNet hosts SecuMail^® in its own data centers in Munich. German data protection regulations apply and our customers can be sure that their data will not leave the country.” The servers are also protected against unauthorized access and manipulation attempts at the highest security level. “This is a huge advantage that has massively increased the acceptance of a cloud solution. In the last four months, we have already converted more than 650 customer mailboxes to SecuMail^® .”

At a glance:

• Elektro Kreutzpointner GmbH
• Burghausen in the Upper Bavarian district of Altöttig
• Founded in 1923
• 21 employees in the IT systems department (800 employees of the Elektro Kreutzpointner Group)
• One of the largest Bavarian electrical companies

Challenge:

Elektro Kreutzpointner, one of the largest electrical companies in Bavaria, uses an on-premise solution for its IT customers as spam and virus protection. But these appliances can no longer be operated economically in times when new Trojans and viruses appear every day. The effort required for adjustments via remote maintenance is too high and poses a security risk for customers. The company therefore needs an alternative solution.

Solution:

Elektro Kreutzpointner relies on SecuMail^® from WorNet – an e-mail filtering service that works as a security instance between company networks and the Internet. The advantage: Kreutzpointner saves half a working day per week in terms of workload, because WorNet takes care of the immediate adjustment of the filters in the event of new cyber threats, which automatically applies to all customer accounts. External departments are no longer necessary.

Result:

Elektro Kreutzpointner saves half a day of work per week and can offer its customers even better IT security. Customers are very satisfied with the switch to SecuMail^® . The system can be learned intuitively, requires no training effort and works with a hit rate of almost 100 percent. Another advantage: German data protection is guaranteed, as SecuMail^® is hosted in data centers in Munich.

Get to know us! 08171 / 24692-0

WorNet AG
Bürgermeister-Graf-Ring 28
82538 Geretsried

08171 / 24692-0
www.secumail.de

 

Source: This interview was conducted on our behalf by the company Wortliga GmbH. Mr. Heinz Siegert from Kreutzpointner was interviewed.