Institution : Tigo Rwanda SA
Industry : Telecommunication
Location : Kigali, RWANDA
Tigo is a Multi National Telecommunications Company with Mobile Telecommunications Operations in 13 countries; 3 in Central America, 3 in South America and 7 in Africa. In Africa Tigo is in Senegal, Chad, Ghana, the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Tanzania, Mauritius and now Rwanda. Tigo has an emerging market focus. Their business model is designed to provide products and services where penetration rates are low and where the need for telecommunications services growing due to economic development. As a brand in Africa, Tigo has been here since 2006.
Tigo, is a worldwide mobile phone service provider. The company has to assure trouble free service at all times. The up time of the network should be 100%. A vulnerable network will dent the telephone service performance. Hence, a stable and secure network is must for such service providers.
The stability and security can be achieved by continuous monitoring of network. The network needs to be monitored more precisely for attempts of external attacks at the Firewall. Another critical area is monitoring their cash cow VPN services. This is of greater importance because the corporate/government clients rely on it. So, with primitive tools Tigo was finding it very difficult to secure the network and provide uninterrupted VPN service.
ManageEngine Firewall Analyzer
The ManageEngine Firewall Analyzer effectively monitors any attack, attempted at the Firewall of the IT network. Firewall Analyzer notifies the administrator instantly about the attacks through various means like Short Messaging Service (SMS), Email, and SNMP traps. The administrator can then decide the kind of action to mitigate the threat like applying anti-virus or other security measures. It provides a slew of reports about the attacks. These reports ensure that the staff can analyze the threats and arrive at a contingency plan to tackle them if they recur in future.
Firewall Analyzer collects the complete data about the VPN passing through the Firewall. Live connections, failed connections, failed attempts; usage and trend information generated comes handy for the administrator. This will be of immense help to maintain interrupt free VPN service.
The discussed features of Firewall Analyzer address the challenge faced by Tigo.
IT Security Officer at Tigo, Samuel Uwayirungu, explains how he was managing the scenario in the absence of an effective Firewall log analysis tool, "Previously, we didn't have any other tool, and we were using the simulator to get an overview". He adds further how Firewall Analyzer helps him to manage the network, "Firewall Analyzer helps me to know the attacks that caused in my firewall and a drill analysis for each and every attack. It is a great product when it comes to notification. It helps our organization to know if there is any failed VPN transaction".
Tigo finds that the tool helps to secure the network and provide uninterrupted value added services like VPN to its customers. It is better equipped to mitigate the attacks, be prepared to meet any contingency in the network. Uninterrupted VPN services keep its customers happy, which is vital for their business. The VPN failure problems are identified faster and remediation is made swifter with the tool.
To summarize Samuel Uwayirungu, IT Security Officer at Tigo asserts that "Firewall Analyzer tool helps us to monitor the Firewall connections internally and externally. We get a drill analysis of protocols. VPN reports are of great help for us".