National board for student aid in sweden deploys outscan to effectively manage vulnerabilities

1. | CASE STUDY
National Board for Student Aid in Sweden
Deploys OUTSCAN to Effectively Manage Vulnerabilities
Centrala studiestödsnämnden (CSN), the
Swedish National Board for Student Aid wanted
a cost effective security solution that could
continuously examine and expertly assess risks
in its IT infrastructure.
Previous Solution
CSN manages its internal applications and outsources its
computers to a managed service provider. Both shared
responsibility for the network, but with so many systems
and countless potential vulnerabilities, CSN realised it
needed a third party specialist to specifically monitor
security concerns and judge the risk exposure.
“As students request financial aid and customers repay
loans from around the world, all via a web browser, it was
imperative that CSN maintained network availability 24/7
and similarly, the integrity of the network and sensitive
personal data,” said Patrik Jonasson, Deputy Security
Manager, CSN. “CSN knew it needed a proactive vulnera-
bility management solution that could monitor security
issues, provide notification of risks and the degree of
seriousness.”
CSN evaluated OUTSCAN based on this exacting criteria
and selected the Outpost24 product to become its new
proactive vulnerability management solution.
Outpost24 Solution
OUTSCAN is an on demand software as a service that
scans the perimeter enabling CSN to easily detect, asses
and manage vulnerabilities. Immediately deployed and
easy to use, OUTSCAN accurately identifies vulnerabilities
and produces customised reports for CSN detailing the
risk exposure.
Every weekend, OUTSCAN is scheduled to scan the
servers at CSN and then on Monday morning, a report is
reviewed detailing discovered vulnerabilities and what
action to take. If CSN needs to add another server or IP
address to the scanning process, it is easily included via
the web interface.
“Vulnerability Management is
crucial today. There are so many
applications on clients, servers, etc.
it is impossible to get a grip on what
is vulnerability and what is not,
so you need a tool like OUTSCAN
to help you.”
About Centrala
studiestödsnämnden
Centrala studiestödsnämnden (CSN) is the Swedish
Government authority in charge of approving and
sending out Swedish financial aid for studies, which
includes both grants and loans to students in Sweden
and abroad.
Awarding a total of approximately 23 billion Swedish
kronor a year to almost 900,000 students, CSN is
headquartered in Sundsvall and has 15 offices
throughout Sweden, employing nearly 1,000 staff.

2. ABOUT OUTPOST24: Vulnerability Management Made Easy! Outpost24 is the technology leader in on-­demand vulnerability assessment
and management solutions with over 2,000 corporate and government customers, including Travelex, Delta Lloyd Group, ING Life Limited,
University of Helsinki, and Banco Multiva. Outpost24 is headquartered in Sweden with a global network of local sales offices. Outpost24
delivers security solutions in a Software-­as-­a-­Service (OUTSCAN® & OUTSCAN PCI®) or Appliance (HIAB®) form factor. Outpost24’s
solutions provide fully automated network vulnerability scanning, easily interpreted reports, and vulnerability management tools.
OUTSCAN PCI® is the ideal tool for businesses of all sizes to achieve and demonstrate PCI DSS compliance.
For more information, please visit http://www.outpost24.com.
Results/Benefits
With OUTSCAN, CSN now has a reliable and cost
effective vulnerability management solution that assesses
and manages its perimeter risk exposure, as Patrik
Jonasson continues:
“OUTSCAN is so simple, convenient to use and extremely
accurate in identifying vulnerabilities. The weekly reports
are detailed and I can customise them to show as much
information as I need. It’s a very stable product and just
runs like clockwork. Outpost24 are always there to provide
support, but to be honest we haven’t needed them, as
there haven’t been any problems.”
Deploying Outpost24’s OUTSCAN solution was an
important decision for CSN and has proved successful in
securing their critical IT assets, as Patrik concluded:
“Vulnerability Management is crucial today. There are so
many applications on clients, servers, etc. it is impossible
to get a grip on what is vulnerability and what is not, so
you need a tool like OUTSCAN to help you. It’s difficult
to measure the importance of security, but having
vulnerability management is like having a fire alarm,
it works away in the background, but when you need it,
it’s invaluable.”
“Outpost24 are always there
to provide support,
but to be honest we haven’t
needed them, as there
haven’t been any problems.”
Why Centrala studiestöds-
nämnden Chose Outpost24
Core vulnerability scanning technology
Ease of deployment
Intuitive web interface
Detailed and customised reports
Cost efficient solution