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Symbol Technologies Empowers Addis International Bank with Advanced SIEM Solution for Enhanced Security Visibility and Threat Detection

Addis Ababa, Ethiopia – Symbol Technologies has successfully designed and delivered a cutting-edge Security Information and Event Management (SIEM) solution for Addis International Bank (AdIB). This strategic implementation of FortiSIEM provides AdIB with a centralized platform for comprehensive security logging, correlation, and analysis, significantly strengthening its cyber defense capabilities and supporting its ongoing Information Systems Security and Risk Management program.  

The Challenge: Centralizing Security Intelligence for a Growing Bank

Addis International Bank, a key player in the Ethiopian financial sector, recognized the evolving complexity of cyber threats and the critical need for enhanced visibility into its IT environment. The bank aimed to move beyond siloed security tools to a unified system that could:  

  • Collect and correlate logs from diverse security systems, network devices, servers, and applications.  
  • Provide actionable intelligence to detect and investigate both internal and external threats effectively.  
  • Significantly reduce the time taken to identify and respond to malicious activities.  
  • Improve the bank's ability to meet stringent compliance requirements through automated reporting and monitoring.
  • Enable proactive security monitoring based on industry-standard cyber risk frameworks and institution-specific risks.  

The Solution: A Tailored FortiSIEM Implementation by Symbol Technologies

Symbol Technologies, overseeing project management and procurement, and deploy the robust FortiSIEM solution and designed detailed a scalable and comprehensive architecture:  

  • Core System Architecture: The deployment featured a multi-component FortiSIEM setup including:  
    • Supervisor Node: The central management hub for the entire SIEM instance, hosting the user interface and the Configuration Management Database (CMDB) for all monitored devices.  
    • Worker Nodes: Dedicated to event correlation, supporting real-time and historical searches, and optimizing query processing to ensure supervisor performance.  
    • Collector Nodes: Deployed to gather logs from a wide array of monitored devices and agents, with secure forwarding of data to worker nodes for processing.  
    • NFS Server: Implemented for long-term log retention, addressing AdIB's requirement of a 10-year log retention period with an initial storage capacity of 59TB.  
  • Leveraging FortiSIEM's Advanced Capabilities: The solution was designed to harness key FortiSIEM features, including:
    • Real-Time Operational Context for rapid security analytics.  
    • User and Entity Behavior Analytics (UEBA) using agent-based telemetry for deeper insight into user activities.  
    • Out-of-the-box compliance reporting for standards such as PCI-DSS, HIPAA, SOX, and ISO.  
    • Performance and availability monitoring, baselining, and statistical anomaly detection.  
    • Integration with external threat intelligence feeds and other technologies.  
    • Real-time configuration change monitoring and File Integrity Monitoring (FIM) through FortiSIEM Advanced Agents.  
    • Scalable and flexible log collection, customizable dashboards, and robust incident notification and management.  
  • Customized Use Cases: The implementation focused on specific SIEM monitoring use cases crucial for the banking sector, such as malware control, boundary defense monitoring, access control violations, application security, compliance data management, and network/host intrusion detection.  

Symbol Technologies managed the procurement of all necessary FortiSIEM licenses and hardware components, ensuring the solution aligned with AdIB’s estimated EPS and device count, including licenses for advanced agents and Indicators of Compromise (IOC) service.  

 

The Outcome: Enhanced Security Operations and Proactive Defense for AdIB

The FortiSIEM solution, delivered through the collaborative efforts of Addis International Bank, provides the bank with:

  • Centralized Visibility: A unified platform offering a holistic view of security events across the bank’s IT landscape.  
  • Rapid Threat Detection & Response: Advanced analytics and real-time correlation capabilities enable faster identification and investigation of potential security incidents.  
  • Improved Compliance Posture: Automated reporting and pre-built compliance packages simplify adherence to various regulatory mandates.  
  • Actionable Security Intelligence: The system transforms raw log data into meaningful insights, allowing the security operations team to proactively address threats.  
  • Scalable Security Architecture: The deployed architecture is designed for future growth, allowing AdIB to expand its monitoring scope as its infrastructure evolves.  

This successful SIEM implementation managed by Symbol Technologies empowers Addis International Bank to significantly mature its security operations, providing robust protection for its critical assets and customer data in an ever-evolving threat landscape.

 

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