Secure Retail Finance

Halifax uses Xiscan to audit modem usage

Formed over 150 years ago, the Halifax is one of the UK's most established providers of financial services. With 20 million customers, 3.4 million shareholders and 37,000 members of staff, it has been independently judged as the best known and most highly regarded of all retail financial services brands in the UK. More people have mortgages and savings accounts with the Halifax than with any other organisation and they offer a wide range of personal financial services - including long term savings, home, motor and creditor insurance, retail banking, consumer credit and share dealing.

The financial services industry is continuing to change at an increasing pace, with a growing interest in new channels such as the Internet. The Halifax are grasping these new challenges and taking advantage of the opportunities that are opening up to build on the existing strength of their business.

However, these opportunities sometimes present risks and the Halifax are committed to creating an efficient, safe trading environment for customers. In order to help them achieve just that, they used Xiscan to review and audit their modem security strategy. The Halifax was interested in Xiscan’s extensive configuration and analysis features.

Prior to configuring Xiscan to perform voice and data scans, the telephone infrastructure had to be analysed. A Pre-Audit Site Survey was completed to develop a thorough understanding of the Halifax’s dialling requirements. It was only with this information, and full agreement from other internal parties, that scanning could commence. Many scans were performed at night – users unaware that their immediate telephone network was being reviewed.

The comprehensive scanning exercise allowed the Halifax to review Xiscan’s rich feature set. The Configuration Manager and Interactive tool were found to be intuitive and scan sessions were easily created. The resulting summaries from the Reporting Tool were clear and understandable. Information produced has helped develop the organisation’s security strategy and modem policy.

Xiscan was found to provide vital security support for the identification and location of modems on the network. Its reporting features allow clear, easily understood results to be produced, which enhance the corporate security strategy.