Woodforest Bank’s Scalable, Responsive Security Solution

With 750 branches in more than 17 states, Woodforest Bank faces ongoing challenges in keeping its data protected. Woodforest’s largest retail partner is Walmart, so it’s no surprise that the financial institution serves more than a million customers. Keeping all those customers protected is Woodforest Bank’s first priority.

After shopping for a security information and event management (SIEM) solution, Woodforest Bank chose Exabeam as the best fit for their environment. The combination of cloud hosting and state-of-the-art analytics were key aspect during their exploration to find a vendor to protect against threats. Here are some of the features that helped Woodforest Bank make its decision.

The benefits of a cloud solution

Woodforest knew from the start that a cloud-based solution was going to be the best option. By limiting their search to software as a service (SaaS) providers, they were able to access the best solutions without having to make costly upgrades to their software, hardware and personnel. Here are a few benefits Woodforest Bank enjoyed by going with a cloud-based solution.

• Access to the latest innovative cybersecurity tools
• Automatic updates
• Faster adoption without having to install and configure
• Tools developed and supported by top cybersecurity talent
• No required upgrades to existing on-site equipment
• No software to install or troubleshoot
• No large up-front cost

With Exabeam, Woodforest Bank got the added benefit of having a solution that easily interacts with other cloud-based software. The team at Woodforest Bank was especially impressed with the seamless integration with Exabeam Data Lake, a repository the institution already used.

Reduced alert fatigue

Before making the switch to Exabeam, Woodforest Bank, like many businesses, found that the challenge to monitor so many endpoints was exhausting for the security team. They had software in place to provide monitoring services, but the scope of their network meant alerts often came at a steady pace. Unfortunately, the excessive alerts can lead to alert fatigue for security analysts, which has them eventually ignoring some alerts because so many have been benign in nature.

Exabeam uses artificial intelligence to learn a business’s typical behavior. For Woodforest Bank, this means the solution is operating in the background, monitoring activity to know exactly what “normal” use is. Having a full understanding of what Woodforest Bank’s end users and machines do on a daily basis allows Exabeam can more easily detect unusual activity. Best of all, the longer the solution is in place, the more it learns about the environment and the better job it can do at alerting on anomalies.

Improved team efficiency

Exabeam brought another benefit to Woodforest Bank’s cybersecurity team. Since the solution handles monitoring the network and logging activity, the team can now shift its focus to developing and implementing strategic security initiatives. As a result, Woodforest Bank has been able to scale its cybersecurity program.

What really got the Woodforest Bank team’s attention, though was the efficiency in detecting a scheduled internal penetration test. Even the legacy SIEM solution Woodforest Bank was using didn’t alert on the activity.

Ongoing scalability

Prior to making the switch, Woodforest Bank was struggling with a legacy SIEM that failed to keep up with the latest technology. Their top priority was to find a solution that provided the top innovations in cybersecurity, including security orchestration, automation and response, and behavioral analytics. They knew what they didn’t need was a tool that merely logged incidents.

By choosing Exabeam, Woodforest Bank not only met those demands but ensured they aren’t shopping for updated solutions a few years down the road. Exabeam is constantly refining its technology to ensure the tools are as useful to cybersecurity teams as possible. That means as the industry changes, Woodforest Bank and other Exabeam users will have access to the latest tools to prevent, detect and investigate threats. Woodforest Bank will also have a solution that will be able to scale as they grow. If they add hundreds of new users over the years, the Exabeam solution is built to handle that without requiring additional installations or IT support staff.

Today, Woodforest Bank has a cybersecurity team that is thriving in the new environment. Not only does Exabeam provide better, more accurate alerts, but the bank’s cybersecurity team can spend its time developing security initiatives rather than performing tedious, time-consuming investigations. Exabeam gives the security team at Woodforest Bank the tools they need to monitor and protect against cybersecurity threats, making the analysts more efficient and accurate in threat hunting. We invite you to read the full case study.