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Perle Systems Application Note
Console Management enhances data security
at a renowned
world banking institution
Choosing appropriate technology to manage large data networks and diverse
critical information systems is still one of the most significant
challenges for many corporations. Downtime of an information network
has high costs. Employees cannot perform their jobs, clients cannot
access critical information and potential customers look elsewhere
for service. Banking institutions are a classic example of the
need for fully available operations. The precise real time mechanics
of the financial market means that a continuous and accurate operation
of the entire network infrastructure is vital.
It was to address this
issue that one of the largest and most renowned international financial
institutions contacted Perle Systems. This world banking institution
decided to consolidate various head offices into a single financial
centre capable of accommodating thousands of workers. The resulting
network would have to provide service to various buildings spread
out across a large geographical area. The complete network infrastructure
of this financial campus was created through a series of Ethernet
switches distributed in every building and for which a secure access
system would be created, in order to guarantee continuous operations.
 The Console
Server as a complement to
Corporate Security
To provide secure administrator access
to the Ethernet switches, 8 port Perle Console
Servers were deployed
and connected to all Ethernet switches at each campus building. Via
the Perle Console Server, the Ethernet switches can be accessed from
any geographic point, using either the LAN/WAN network (in-band management)
or the public telephone network (Out-of-Band Management). This allows
the administrators to maximize the availability of its systems and
immediately perform, administrative tasks for configuration or diagnosis
and recovery of systems failure.
In addition, the bank can be assured that
all data that passes over the network is fully secure and protected.
Network traffic contains user names, passwords and critical system
information that can be easily captured and read, when passed over
the Telnet protocol. Exposure of this data, its possible inappropriate
or malicious use, poses a serious risk to the banking industry. The
Perle Console Server allows an authorized banking administrator to
open a secure channel to each Ethernet switch, encrypt all of the
data over SSH or SSL thus guaranteeing its indecipherability.
Summary - The solution provided by the
Perle Systems Console
Server, is an important complement to corporate
security of this financial institution, because:
- It allows secure access at any time and from anywhere, to the
Ethernet switches in order to guarantee continuous operations and
minimal down time in the event of systems failure.
- All data that passed over the network is fully encrypted
to ensure that unauthorized users cannot capture critical banking
information.
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