CUSTOMER CASE STUDY UNIVERSIDAD DEL PACÍFICOPeruvian University
shifts from a reactive
to a proactive approachto security with Sophos
Intercept X Advanced.
Located in Lima, Peru, the Universidad del Pacífico offers undergraduate,graduate, and post-graduate degree programs in law, engineering, business, information sciences, marketing, languages, and finance. It also has
an extensive international training and research program. Founded in 1962
by a group of business leaders and the Jesuit religious community, theuniversity seeks to expand its role as a key contributor to the educational,
economic, and social development of Peru.

CUSTOMER-AT-A-GLANCE
Universidad del Pacífico (Perú)
Industry
Education

Websitewww.up.edu.pe
Number of Users
3,800

Sophos Solutions
Sophos Intercept X
Advanced
Sophos Intercept X
Advanced for Server

CUSTOMER CASE STUDY UNIVERSIDAD DEL PACÍFICO

Challenges
ÌÌ Protecting all users and endpoints,
including mobile devices, across campusÌÌ Detecting and blocking ransomwareand zero-day threatsÌÌ Elevating security by seamlessly integrating
advanced endpoint protection withexisting solutions
ÌÌ Finding a solution that works
automatically and transparently, without
disrupting processes and activities
essential to higher education
ÌÌ Prioritizing alerts and enabling better,more accurate investigations
ÌÌ Simplifying and centralizing
security management

When faced with a changing
threat environment, whatsteps can an educational
institution take tomodernize its security?
For many years, IT Director Ugo Ojeda andthis team at the Universidad del Pacífico
were satisfied with their endpoint solution,
which largely centered around signature-

based antivirus and device inventory
management – until the institution started
getting hit with ransomware attacks.
“Our solution did a great job for a while,
but times change. When we were directly
impacted by ransomware, we knew it wastime to modernize our defenses in order tocombat these new threats,” relates Ojeda. He
explains that his vision was to implement asolution that provided a more comprehensive
defense, was easy to manage, and worked
automatically and transparently so as not
to disrupt the activities of the diverse user
population, which includes students, faculty,
and administrative staff. He and his team also
felt the university’s existing endpoint productwas doing a good job overall, so they neededa solution that would interoperate with it.
Ojeda oversees 42 employees, but only ahandful are dedicated to information security.
With the volume of alerts mounting and theinability of the current solution to counteract
advanced malware and other threats, thesecurity team was clearly overwhelmed. Ojeda
was particularly concerned about neverbefore-seen threats. Because the existing
antivirus is signature-based, it was unable toidentify and block malware associated witha ransomware attack that targeted one ofthe organization’s servers. This event added
fuel to the fire and prompted Ojeda to look for
another more robust and advanced solution
to reinforce his endpoint security defenses.

‘The Sophos
Centralplatform isaccessible
from anywhere
and thishas greatly
simplified
things for us.’
Ugo Ojeda
IT Director
Universidad del PacíficoCUSTOMER CASE STUDY UNIVERSIDAD DEL PACÍFICO

‘Sophos is the only brand with a mature suite of products,
the functionality we need to meet our requirements,
and the same high level of service and support
that we have come to expect from our vendors.’
Ugo Ojeda
IT DirectorUniversidad del Pacífico

What technologies does
Sophos Intercept X
Advanced rely on to help
combat ransomwareand zero-day threats?
Ojeda and his team performed a market
analysis and sought the assistance of
their trusted technology partner, Yachay
Telecommunications, to help them find theoptimal technology that would secure all typesof endpoints – laptops, servers, and mobile
devices – for all types of users across theentire campus, from offices to computer labs.
A Sophos Platinum Partner for three years,
Yachay provides a broad spectrum of IT
services, from network connectivity tosecurity to telephony. Yachay serves multiple
industry sectors, including healthcare,government, energy, manufacturing, andeducation. Yachay has had many years ofexperience supporting customers in theeducation market and understands their
particular technology requirements andbudgetary constraints. Having worked withthe university for nearly five years, the Sophos
managed service provider was well acquainted
with Universidad del Pacífico’s technology
environment and understood exactly what
was needed to boost its security postureand better protect its users and devices.
Yachay recommended Sophos Intercept X
Advanced for both devices and servers.
Universidad del Pacífico acquired 2,800
licenses of Sophos Intercept X Advanced
and 250 licenses of Sophos Intercept X

Advanced for Server. For Ojeda, Sophos
took the university’s security infrastructure
to a new level. With capabilities far beyond
traditional antivirus, these solutions provide
next-generation endpoint protection that
detects never-before-seen malware withdeep learning – a form of artificial intelligence.
It also stops ransomware with CryptoGuard
technology, which blocks encryption attempts
on hard drives, USB devices, and network
shares. Furthermore, Sophos Intercept
X Advanced halts attacks in progress byblocking the exploits and techniques attackers
typically use to propagate malware, steal
credentials, and avoid detection. The server
version of the product leverages the same
technologies as the endpoint version andis purpose-built to protect the university’s
critical applications and workloads fromhacking attempts and data loss.

CUSTOMER CASE STUDY UNIVERSIDAD DEL PACÍFICO

‘With Sophos, we can do everything
we need to do on a daily basis
to secure the organization.’
Ugo Ojeda
IT Director
Universidad del Pacífico

“Sophos Intercept X Advanced was exactly
what we were looking for. Our current endpoint
solution was purely reactive, unable to detectand mitigate zero-day threats. SophosIntercept X Advanced, on the other hand, uses
a signatureless approach, so we are confident
that we are now well protected against bothknown and unknown malware,” explains Ojeda.
Another key differentiator for Ojeda is thefact that Sophos technology is based on
an open architecture. It is complementary
to other security technologies, allowing foreasy and seamless integration. Ojeda andhis team were able to quickly deploy Sophos
Intercept X Advanced and enable it to run
concurrently and transparently in tandemwith their existing endpoint product – allwithout impacting user productivity.

How has EDR andcentralized managementchanged the mindset of thesecurity team and improved
their effectiveness?
Intercept X Advanced also provides intelligent
endpoint detection and response (EDR)
capabilities, replicating tasks that would
normally be performed by skilled analysts.
The solution leverages machine learning toautomatically detect and prioritize potential
threats and analyze malware down to codelevel details for more fruitful investigations.
Ojeda’s team also has access to on-demandthreat intelligence curated by SophosLabs,
which receives and processes more than
400,000 previously unseen malware samples

daily. All of this has significantly lightened
the workload for Ojeda and his team andenables them to focus on what’s mostimportant from a security perspective.
Ojeda and his team have also gained
operational efficiency in other ways.
Deployment and management from thecloud-based Sophos Central management
platform, with its intuitive dashboard, arestraightforward and easier than ever, saving
an enormous amount of time and effort. Othersolutions the team had implemented in thepast required laborious, time-consuming onpremises installations at every single location.
Sophos Central expands visibility into
the computing infrastructure, withdetails into potential vulnerabilities
across all devices and all users.

CUSTOMER CASE STUDY UNIVERSIDAD DEL PACÍFICO

“Our previous solution lacked a 360-degreeview into our environment, and this prevented
us from performing a proper forensic analysis
that would have prevented new infections.
Sophos has changed all that,” notes Ojeda.
“We can do everything we need to do ona daily basis to secure the organization,and then, when the occasion arises, wecan perform effective troubleshooting.”
All these capabilities allow the team to takea proactive rather than reactive approachto minimizing security risks. And, thanks
to Sophos, they are no longer dedicating
all their precious time to security.
“Because it’s in the cloud, the Sophos Central
platform is accessible from anywhere, andthis has greatly simplified things for us,” says
Ojeda. “My team is now much more effectiveand efficient. They spend less time chasingalerts. When security events do occur, theytake action and resolve incidents much
faster. Now they can turn their attention
to other activities and responsibilities, likecollaborating on technology initiatives that
foster the university’s success and growth.”
Ojeda also appreciates the flexibility andsupport of the Sophos team every step of
the way. With limited funds available tothem, universities and other educational
institutions often have to make the most ofwhat they have. Not only did the Sophos open
architecture accommodate integration with
Universidad del Pacífico’s current endpoint
solution, the pricing fit perfectly within
the organization’s budget parameters.
“Sophos is the only brand with a mature
suite of products, the functionality we needto meet our requirements, and the high levelof service and support we have come toexpect from our vendors,” concludes Ojeda.

‘Sophos Intercept
X Advanced uses
a signaturelessapproach, so weare confident that
we are now well
protected against
both known
and unknown
malware.’Ugo Ojeda
IT Director
Universidad del Pacífico

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