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Solutions

Stonesoft Solutions for Government and Public Sector

Securing availability of government resources

The availability of e-Government services is critical – sometimes from the business point of view, sometimes from the human life point of view. Any connection to the Internet should be made redundant by using two or more Internet Service Providers while ensuring that the all the security gateways are being deployed as a cluster.

StoneGate provides ISP multi-homing, VPN failover using multiple ISPs as well as gateway clustering out of the box.

Protecting and monitoring critical infrastructure, processes and assets

StoneGate Firewall enforces agencies' security policies at the network perimeter as well as inside the network protecting valuable assets from information disclosure, modification and loss. StoneGate Firewall gives efficient tools for enforcing access control – and use of – crucial assets in the network.

In addition to the enforcing security policies, StoneGate Firewall together with StoneGate IPS is a powerful tool for detecting policy violations, attack attempts, and other malicious activities.

StoneGate Management Center gives excellent support for responding to security incidents as well as providing tools for auditing and internal reviews.

Securing communications

Virtual private networks (VPNs) use the public Internet to establish secure, low-cost network connections between government offices around the country, between government agencies, their business partners, and remote users. VPNs are gaining popularity as a way to replace more expensive leased lines and frame-relay connections. To ensure data confidentiality and compliance with government-wide security policies, StoneGate VPN supports a wide range of encryption algorithms to choose from.

However, not all VPNs are created equal. Data protection protocols and encryption techniques continue to improve, but Internet reliability remains a barrier to widespread VPN adoption. Stonesoft's combination of high availability firewall and VPN addresses the problem in a unique way, securing both the availability and the integrity of governments' Internet connections.

Securing remote access to information

It is no longer sufficient to give access to the network and to the information when the government employee is in the office. Government users may need to have a secure remote access to critical information wherever they are. However, as they access the government resources through the open Internet, they are vulnerable to a multitude of threats, thereby possible compromising the whole network.

StoneGate's free VPN client addresses this problem by making it possible for government IT administrators to direct all mobile user traffic through the agencies' gateway via VPN, thereby enforcing the agencies security policy. Instead of being vulnerable to attack, mobile users appear as though they are within the agency network taking advantage of all the firewall, anti-virus and intrusion detection solutions.

Government employees on the road can work just like their colleagues at the office, as StoneGate's VPN hub functionality for mobile VPNs allows seamless connectivity to all the resources, whether the resources are located at the main site or behind other VPN gateways. Combined with StoneGate's patented Multi-Link Technology, mobile government users will enjoy uninterrupted connectivity, thanks to the transparent failover of VPN connections.

Cost effective management of IT security infrastructure

The ability to manage a large number of security devices centrally as cost-efficiently as possible, while keeping up with all the security requirements is one of the cornerstones for lowering the total cost of ownership.

StoneGate offers sophisticated tools for remote management and maintenance of a large number of devices thus removing the need to operate the machines locally.

Role-based administration allows government IT managers to securely delegate management tasks to their subordinates. This means that scarce administrative resources are better utilized and management tasks are executed as efficiently as possible. It also allows administrator accountability through auditing and strong user authentication.