PRODUCTS

F5 Distributed Cloud Bot Defense

Advanced Web Application Firewall (WAF)

F5 BIG-IP with Azure Active Directory

BENEFITS

Web Application and API Protection (WAAP)
Reduction of malicious traffic and transactions
Improvement of application uptime, performance, and quality
Rapidly detection and neutralization of cybersecurity threats
Mitigation of credential stuffing attacks that lead to account takeover and financial losses

CHALLENGES

Increased account takeovers impact customer trust
Advanced bots mimic humans to avoid detection
Cyber attacks were threatening financial institutions
Existing technologies and processes couldn’t address the different attacks and their continuously increasing volumes
Battling attacks diverted resources for improving services
With the growth in mobile and digital banking, and the increasing volume and sophistication of cyber attacks on financial institutions and their account holders, Cooperative Bank of Chania Bankneeded a way to provide stronger security without disrupting the customer experience. F5 Distributed Cloud Bot Defense was the answer.

Business Challenges

People and businesses trust financial institutions to keep their money safe and their transactions secure. Yet in today’s digital world, the rapid growth of online and mobile banking has led to a rise in the volume, frequency, and sophistication of cyber attacks.

Founded in 1995 at Chania, the Cooperative Bank of Chania, having local orientation in its favor, established at first in Crete and gradually expanded in the rest of Greece.Bank of Chania develops financial products and services, focusing on customers and their needs. It offers sophisticated choices and well-rounded services to individuals and businesses. The Bank operates with transparency, builds credibility and applies modern corporate governance practices. It receives hundreds of thousands of web visits daily from customers seeking banking information and online financial services.

In the wake of increasing security threats, Chania Bank came to Pylones, the sole F5 Platinum partner in Greece to strengthen the cybersecurity posture of the bank.

Cooperative Bank of Chania Bank selected Pylones Hellas to shield its operations, according to what the new digital age commands! The project concerns the upgrading of the bank’s cyber security posture by strengthening its IT and network systems’. The new infrastructures will improve the daily life of employees and customers of Chania Bank, by providing safer, more efficient operation and better quality of services.

Solution

The project to strengthen the bank’s cyber security, which has been running since the beginning of the year, includes the securing of bank’s API’s, and more specifically the way users communicate with the bank’s ebanking. There was also an upgrade of the Bank’s web application firewall by investing in solutions such as Threat Campaign, IP Intelligence as well as comprehensive protection against credential stuffing attacks with the Leaked Credentials Check (LCC).

In addition, with the implementation of the Distributed Cloud Bot Defense solution which is based on F5 technologies, the bank now protects its web and mobile applications from persistent and highly sophisticated bot attacks that are the most emerging threat to the applications of a financial organization. The purpose of these solutions is to cover the needs of the Bank, for increased security in IT networks and infrastructures (Servers, Data Center, workstations and cloud), while the security levels in the Bank’s communication with its customers via the internet are now significantly strengthened.

Furthermore, in the context of the bank’s transition and investment to the cloud, a migration project of the authentication of its internal users and partners to Microsoft Azure was also implemented.

The IT Manager of Chania Bank, Mr. Sifis Koutroumpas, stated: “Our Bank’s IT Department, having prioritized the provision of high-standard digital services to its customers, has chosen Pylones Hellas for the implementation of key cybersecurity projects. Pylones Hellas has consistently shown us that it has the foresight, technical know-how and flexibility to overcome today’s cyber challenges and meet tomorrow’s needs as they are defined in the new technology era. ».

Mr. Georgios Linardakis, Sales Manager of Pylones Hellas, stated: “Our 25 years of experience in the implementation of complex projects in combination with the innovative cybersecurity & cloud solutions that we offer, make us a reliable partner for any large organization that wants to simplify its digital challenges which in the near future will be more and more complex”.

Benefits

By implementing BIG-IP AWAF and Distributed Cloud Bot Defense, Bank of Chania is better protected against against a broad set of bot-based attacks including credential stuffing, account takeover, fraud, and account abuse, ensuring application availability and seamless user experiences.

Rapidly detected and neutralized cybersecurity threats

Today, the attacks are more mature, but the solutions to defend against them are also mature. Now even if the Bank has a DDoS attack every 100 seconds, it  don’t feel it, and its customers never feel it.

Reduced malicious traffic and transactions

Bank of Chania credits Distributed Cloud Bot Defense with helping to reduce the transactions on its applications by blocking malicious activity. That decrease in transactions translates into a big value add, saving Banks money and resources, and creating a safer and more reliable experience for its customers.

Improved application uptime, performance, and quality

Bank of Chania has always been focused on the performance and quality of the services it provides, but the key to both is availability—making sure those services are always available. When Bank of Chania implemented Distributed Cloud Bot Defense to deal with credential stuffing and other automated cyber attacks, availability was no longer a serious problem. “F5 Distributed Cloud Bot Defense took all those bad actors off of the application load and stopped those threats at the perimeter,” mr Sifis Koutroumpas says. “That allowed us to focus on delivering other features and services and not worry about availability and scaling just to be able to handle the nonsense that the credential stuffing was causing.”

“As we continue on this digital journey with our customers and their account holders, we need partners like Pylones, who are excellent at what they’re focused on addressing, in this case bot attacks, so we can remain focused on what we’re excellent at–delivering the best digital banking experience to customers and their account holders,” mr Sifis Koutroumpas says.