About The Customer
Founded in January 2015, io oil & gas consulting is a joint venture between GE Oil & Gas and McDermott that was created to help oil and gas projects move forward efficiently and profitably by combining upstream consultancy with engineering expertise. To achieve this goal, io requires sensitive financial, engineering, and operational data, all of which would be valuable in the hands of a competitor.
The Business Challenge
When io was set up, its core strategy from an IT perspective was to operate in a lean and nimble fashion with a high level of data transparency via the use of cloud and cloud applications wherever possible. However, security also had to play a pivotal role. This is because io would be handling customer reservoir data; highly confidential information detailing exactly how much oil or gas is present at a drill site, its depth, quality and other important factors that determine the economic viability of the site. This highly sensitive data must be kept secure at all times as it would be invaluable to competitors.
io’s CIO John Barton knew that a security led model encompassing both physical and IT security would be required in order to manage data loss and mitigate against internal threats within the business (whether malicious or unintentional). However, as a startup and in order to maintain lean business efficiency, Barton knew it would have to be achieved without significant investments in both internal infrastructure and resources.
Critical Success Factors
- Deliver a high level of security across the entire business operation
- Providing full visibility on sensitive data throughout io network and endpoints
- Assure client movements were fully traceable and accountable
- Implement highly effective security without significant overhead
- Allow for fine tuning based on data analytics and other information sources
The Solution
io decided to engage with Fortra™’s Digital Guardian® based on both empirical evidence and Barton’s prior experience with the Digital Guardian Data Loss Prevention (DLP) platform. He knew the platform was highly robust and would provide the ideal solution to io business challenges of protecting critical intellectual property. Another key factor in the decision was Digital Guardian’s ability to offer the full power of the platform as a managed service. As a result, there would be no up front infrastructure costs or ongoing maintenance that would drain resources and detract from the lean strategy. io could focus on their business, while Digital Guardian’s team of security experts was watching the data.
io had an aggressive deployment timeline to align with their customers’ needs, Digital Guardian and io collaborated to complete the deployment and be operational within 90 days. The Digital Guardian platform covers the io core team and assets storing sensitive data, while also allowing for the flexibility to scale up, rapidly, when large projects demanded it. Digital Guardian is deployed on all company endpoints and also at the remote gateway, providing full visibility of data going in and out to trusted third parties as well.
The Results
Digital Guardian enabled io to monitor data movement patterns and spot red flags early, preventing data loss. io can drive behavioral change amongst employees and educate them on the importance of maintaining data security. io can be completely transparent about how all data is handled, providing clients peace of mind that sensitive data is fully protected. Finally, io enjoys a strong relationship with the Digital Guardian technical team, helping to fine tune the platform through assessments and data analytics.
With Digital Guardian, we can be completely transparent with our clients about how we handle their data, giving them peace of mind that their sensitive reservoir data is fully protected.
John Barton, CIO, Oil & Gas Consulting
Data Types We Protect
