Bouygues keeps critical telecom infrastructure safe and running at top capacity

Bouygues Telecom is one of the largest communications service providers in France, delivering innovative products and services to 10.9 million mobile and 1.3 million fixed broadband customers, including more than 1.45 million professional and corporate clients.

• Industry: Telecommunications
• Annual Revenue: EUR 36 billion+ (USD 40 billion+)
• Employees: 6,000+

Challenges

As one of the largest telecommunications providers in France, Bouygues Telecom is entrusted with vast quantities of sensitive customer data and is conscious of its duty to protect this information. Jean-Pierre Blanc, security manager at Bouygues Telecom, said: “Due to the nature of our business, there is a strong security culture within Bouygues Telecom and we take data protection very seriously indeed.”

Prior to the deployment of CyberArk solutions, Bouygues Telecom had two custom-built in-house systems in place to manage their privileged accounts, including one repository through which the company stored and managed internal passwords. However, both custom-built systems were becoming outdated and would have been extremely costly to overhaul. Crucially, the existing models were also unable to deliver the level of security and scalability necessary to meet the company’s growing needs. As a result, Bouygues Telecom looked to vendor solutions in a bid to better secure and manage the large number of privileged credentials existing in the corporate network.

Solutions

CyberArk Solutions Meet Bouygues Telecom’s Evolving Business Needs

Having reviewed several vendors and competing solutions, Bouygues Telecom decided to work with trusted security expert CyberArk and implemented the CyberArk Privileged Access Manager Solution. Speaking of the deployment process, Mr. Blanc commented: “We were able to complete the implementation in just three months, something that would have taken around 9-18 months using our existing solution.”

Privileged accounts and sessions are repeatedly the target of both internal and external attacks – due to the system-wide access they grant – controlling these sensitive credentials is vital to remain compliant and to protect a business’s core assets. CyberArk solutions allow Bouygues Telecom to manage and secure the company’s IT infrastructure, and also isolate business-critical systems from potential malware attacks by continuously monitoring critical servers, databases, web applications and virtual environments. This is particularly important for Bouygues Telecom as the company’s long-term aim is to move to a virtualized corporate environment. Mr. Blanc commented: “We were initially attracted by the CyberArk solution’s ability to securely record and monitor all privileged access and streamline reports for compliance purposes.

Bouygues Telecom has further extended the implementation with the roll-out of the CyberArk Secrets , part of the Privileged Access Manager Solution. Secrets Manager delivers secure, flexible and robust authentication, while simplifying large-scale projects by eliminating hard-coded passwords and visible credentials from applications and scripts. The solution is also easily scalable over multiple platforms and sites.

Mr. Blanc added: “Deploying solutions that would help to future-proof our business was an important consideration in our initial search. With CyberArk, we are confident that we have implemented technology that will work with us as our business grows and develops, as the scalability has been impressive.”

Results

Approaching Compliance With Confidence

A key consideration in the implementation of the CyberArk solutions was the evolving set of compliance and audit requirements facing companies today. As a large global telecoms provider, Bouygues Telecoms takes its responsibility to secure the private data of its customers seriously.

With the CyberArk solutions in place, Bouygues Telecom is now able to approach compliance with confidence, providing enhanced protection and accountability around privileged access and activity, which allows for an easier auditing process.

Mr. Blanc said: “After investigating the other vendors and solutions on the market, we were left confident that CyberArk offered the most comprehensive solutions through which to cover all bases and meet all our initial objectives from the deployment.” He continued, “We now have solutions in place that allow us to more accurately and efficiently trace all privileged activity and secure and control internal and external access – something which is particularly important, as we entrust privileged credentials to external sources.”

“The deployment of CyberArk solutions has not only given us the confidence that we met with all compliance regulations with immediate effect, but also that we have selected a vendor that can satisfy our evolving business and future compliance needs.”

– Jean-Pierre Blanc, Security Manager, Bouygues Telecom

Customer service is a top priority for Bouygues Telecom. Mr. Blanc reported that throughout the deployment stage, CyberArk was on-hand to offer assistance when needed, which minimized any impact on Bouygues Telecom customers. He said: “Customer service is absolutely key to our business. CyberArk’s excellent support throughout the course of the deployment has been vital in enabling us to maintain our highest standards of customer care during the transition period.”

Additionally, Bouygues Telecom is now able to handle any future IT emergencies it encounters with ease, as the CyberArk solutions provide reliable and secure privileged access when needed.

Moving forward, Bouygues Telecom’s long-term aim is to move to a more virtualized environment – a process which the company is confident will be supported by CyberArk. Mr. Blanc commented: “CyberArk solutions are ideal for us as they are so easily scalable. As our infrastructure will evolve in the coming years to become a more virtualized environment, we’re confident that CyberArk can support the growing needs of our business.”

Key benefits

• Due to the rapid deployment process of CyberArk solutions, Bouygues Telecom benefited from enhanced security and compliance assurance with immediate effect
• CyberArk provided the most comprehensive solution on the market to meet constantly evolving regulations
• CyberArk solutions are easily scalable and will grow with the business – supporting a move to virtualize much of the corporate environment in the future
• A security solution which enables the company to maintain continuous business operations critical to sustaining its excellent standard of customer service