Webroot® Email Security Case Study
Dallas County Community College District
Texas' Largest Undergraduate Institution Finds E-Mail Security with Webroot® SaaS
With seven colleges that have served more than 1.5 million students since 1965, Dallas County Community College District (DCCCD) is the largest undergraduate institution in the state of Texas. The DCCCD currently employs approximately 9,000 full- and part-time faculty, staff and administrators to serve more than 10,000 students each semester. Because it operates as a network of community colleges, the district relies on e-mail for timely communication about critical issues ranging from admissions and tuition to curriculum and education.
The Problem
|
"The results we saw during our initial trial of Webroot E-Mail Security SaaS were so impressive that we decided to fully implement the service to our 9,000 faculty, staff and administrators before the trial was even complete. The implementation was seamless, thanks to the help of Webroot's excellent sales and support staff. Users saw an immediate increase in productivity once their mailboxes were not cluttered with spam messages. With its advanced features and capabilities, this product is better suited for the needs of a large institution like the Dallas County Community College District than any other system I have worked with."
-Lilith Calbridge |
Between staff, faculty, administrators and students, the DCCCD e-mail network supports inbound and outbound messages for more than 65,000 mailboxes. In addition, the DCCCD maintains a highly trafficked Web site where e-mail addresses for staff and various departments are publicly listed. While this is convenient for students and faculty, it makes the DCCCD an easy target for viruses, bots and other malware threats that create e-mail distribution lists for spamming purposes based on the addresses they retrieve from infected computers.
The DCCCD was using two security appliances to protect against spam, believing that if one appliance did not catch a spam message, the second one would. However, these appliances struggled to keep up with the high volume; more than 95 percent of the 1 to 3 million e-mails the network received each day was spam. Adding to the problem, the IT department experienced great difficulty managing these appliances. The DCCCD needed a more effective, more manageable e-mail security solution to cut down on spam, which would not only increase productivity and security, but also free up significant bandwidth and storage space on the network.
The Solution
The DCCCD was a long-time user of Webroot AntiSpyware Corporate Edition, a desktop security solution that protects against the threats of spyware. Based on the successful performance of that product, the DCCCD decided to evaluate Webroot E-Mail Security SaaS (Software as a Service). This managed e-mail security solution delivers multi-layered protection when combined with Webroot's desktop security solution.
A trial of Webroot E-Mail Security SaaS was set up in under a day, and the results were immediate. Not only was the IT staff impressed with the ease of implementation, but they also reported an immediate reduction of spam. The service blocked as many as 60,000 more spam messages each day than both of the district's previous anti-spam appliances combined. In fact, the results achieved within the first few weeks were so impressive that the DCCCD decided to fully implement the service before the trial was even complete.
Benefits
The DCCCD currently uses Webroot E-Mail Security SaaS to secure the mailboxes of its 9,000 staff, faculty and administration members. The district also has the capacity to add up to 20,000 more mailboxes if they decide to expand the installation to cover students. With the number of unsolicited e-mails hitting their inboxes greatly reduced, DCCCD employees can now focus on their primary tasks instead of spending time wading through and deleting hundreds of spam messages each day. Additionally, with as many as 60,000 fewer spam messages hitting their network daily, a considerable amount of bandwidth and storage space has been saved, which makes searching for e-mails much faster and reduces overall storage costs.
The DCCCD has taken advantage of several features included in Webroot E-Mail Security SaaS to help further optimize protection. The advanced rules settings enable IT administrators to specify what types of e-mails can be sent through the system, resulting in fewer messages passing through the network and tying up valuable bandwidth. Additionally, the robust reporting feature provides the DCCCD with real-time visibility into what types of e-mails each user is receiving and how many per day. This feature helps IT staff identify if any user's computers or e-mail accounts are infected by spyware or other malware.
Utilizing a combined desktop and perimeter security solution provided the DCCCD with effective and manageable protection against e-mail-based threats. With Webroot E-Mail Security SaaS providing an additional layer of in-the-cloud protection, the DCCCD can assure its staff, faculty and administration that spam will no longer hamper
Resources
Video Testimonials
Archived Webinars
Industry Analysis
Only 12% of IT managers are aware of the potential dangers posed by Web 2.0. Learn More Now.
Cost of Ownership Calculator
Check out our easy to use TCO calculator to find out how much you could be saving with SaaS vs. On-Premise for email and web security!
Calculate your Savings
Copyright 2004 - 2013 Webroot Inc.