Case Studies

Avecto Privilege Guard Enables Desktop Least Privilege Despite Diverse User Requirements and Problem Applications.

Avecto have provided us with excellent support, not just for the product, but they have gone beyond implementation and given us some of the best advice we have ever experienced. We are confident we made the right decision in choosing them to help roll-out our least privilege strategy.

– Gavin Wilson

Oxford University Press (OUP) is one of the largest publishers in the UK, and the largest university press in the world. As a department of the University of Oxford, it furthers the University’s objective of excellence in research, scholarship, and education by publishing worldwide.

Their origins evolved from the information technology revolution of the late fifteenth century, which began with the invention of printing from movable type. The first book was printed in Oxford in 1478, only two years after Caxton set up the first printing press in England.

Since 1896, the business has changed considerably, with the growth and evolution of schools’ publishing, particularly in the Branches; the introduction of English Language Teaching, Music, Journals, and Trade and General publishing; and the use of new technologies. Having a large number of users that required elevated permissions to perform specific tasks, user admin rights posed a real risk to the business. OUP evaluated a number of solutions which were cumbersome and difficult to implement, they then elected to evaluate Privilege Guard from Avecto.

The Challenge

An essential part of OUP’s business operation is the daily use of internal systems such as Eyes & Hands invoicing and Barclays Business financial software packages, which require users to be able to write information to restricted areas of their network. In addition, OUP power users needed to install applications as part of their day-to-day job functions.

Eyes & Hands and Barclays Business are both financial applications and are business critical. The applications are used for the transfer of cash, hence OUP needed to have better control over how users processed other information alongside these applications on their desktops. As OUP also publish their own electronic products which are distributed to their remote sales force, this meant that some users needed local admin rights to install these applications. OUP realised that security vulnerabilities could be mitigated by the removal of admin rights from users and overall desktop management could be improved.

Deployment Environment

OUP were updating desktop operating systems from Windows XP to Vista and had put in place longer term plans to upgrade to Windows 7.

"Implementing Avecto’s Privilege Guard solution was seamless and completely transparent and has given my team a greater degree of control over our desktop users," said Gavin Wilson, Senior Support Analyst. "Avecto have provided us with excellent support, not just for the product, but they have gone beyond implementation and given us some of the best advice we have ever experienced. We are confident we made the right decision in choosing them to help roll-out our least privilege strategy."

OUP have taken onboard the strategic task of reducing malware threats to their business by implementing a policy of least privilege, as a result they now have a streamlined desktop infrastructure support and improved the overall end user experience.

The Results

• Improved control and management with greater protection for desktop users
• Reduced time for IT and remote users who can now install software using trusted digital signatures
• Increased security and auditing of privileged user activity