Pechanga Resort and Casino

Background: Pechanga Resort & Casino is located in the beautiful Temecula Valley. The resort is California’s first resort and casino to be awarded the AAA Four Diamond rating, retaining the honor for four years running. Pechanga Resort and Casino offers 522 luxurious hotel rooms and suites, non-stop casino action, eight exceptional restaurants, entertainment and health club.  The casino opened in 1995 and recently hosted the “Celebrity Poker Challenge” to be aired on FOX later this summer.  The resort began operations in 2002 and is frequently host to A-list performers and celebrities.

Challenges: Pechanga deployed the Safend Protector solution on approximately 1500 network computers.  Pechanga does not currently have branch offices but Safend Protector can be utilized remotely via corporate laptops. 

As a very successful casino, information security is one of the highest concerns from both management and in regard to gaming regulators.  In this day and age, information is gold, and Pechanga is very serious about maintaining the security and integrity of their sensitive
customer, employee, and company data.  The ability to audit who is using what type of device, and permit or deny it's use even down to the exact serial number, provides a level of synergy when you couple this technology with Active Directory policies, detailed file access logging, and of course cryptography. 

The problem was finding a flexible and easy to manage solution that would compliment and help enforce our written policies regarding the use of both authorized and unauthorized peripherals.

Issues:

1.  Deciding which peripheral devices should be allowed to access network computers.  For example:  should iPods, CDs/DVDs, or other devices be allowed; specifically as relating to USB ports.
2.  How to limit access to USB ports without shutting them all off or on.  Needed to be able to utilize legitimate devices without compromising security of data. 
3.  Needed to be able to monitor who was connecting devices to the network as a means of controlling data leaks. 
4.  Needed a tool to assist with enforcing corporate IT security policy.

Solution provided by Safend: The solution provided to Pechanga was the Safend Protector security suite with accompanying monitoring tool, Safend Auditor.  Safend Protector provides comprehensive and tamper-proof endpoint security software, controlling data access from the physical ports of  enterprise endpoints, including USB, FireWire, WiFi, Bluetooth, Infrared (IrDA), and CD/DVDs.  Operating at the kernel level IT managers can set granular policies regarding peripheral device connectivity. Anti-tampering features make modifying or removing the software virtually impossible for end-users.

The analysis tool, Safend Auditor, provides a list of all devices that are or have been connected to a network within the last six months, spotlighting endpoint vulnerabilities. Security policies can then be customized by organizations to fit their needs, whether it’s company-wide, by department or individual.

Implementing Safend Protector and Safend Auditor allows Pechanga to continue to use productivity-enhancing tools such as video-conferencing cameras, USB storage, and other communications devices without sacrificing data security. Pechanga is able to set policies allowing individual employees to use certain devices while restricting their use at other locations.  Policies can be set to be as broad or specific as needed.  The Safend Auditor tool allows administrators to periodically scan the network and pinpoint exactly which devices are connected to which computers. Safend Auditor can also log which devices have been previously connected.  Reports can then be generated in various formats for later use. The control provided by both of these products allows Pechanga to enforce corporate IT security policy as well as ensuring compliance with state and federal data security mandates.

“A couple other products gave only basic controls, such as turning USB ports off and on, not good, especially since there are a number of USB devices that have legitimate uses here (Keyboards, Mice, scanners, video conferencing cameras, etc).  The bus is not the problem, it's the type of device that we're concerned with, and whether it conforms to our written policy.  Safend allows flexibility while providing us with device monitoring capabilities.”

Gilbert Mendoza, Network Security Administrator, Pechanga Resort and Casino

Summary: The Network Security department does not have to worry about the invisible presence of unapproved devices for malicious or benign purposes.  If a device is somehow connected, the auditing tool will alert management and the device location can be pinpointed.  The Safend Protector is tamper-proof so it can not be uninstalled or disabled by the end-user and protects the network from unauthorized data access.

Safend, Inc.
2 Penn Center, Suite 300
Philadelphia, PA  19102 USA
Tel: 1-215-496-9646

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