ConSentry Secures Schools

MILPITAS, Calif. -- ConSentry Networks, a leading provider of secure LAN solutions, announced today that the Mount Pleasant Independent School District of Mount Pleasant, Texas, is using the ConSentry LANShield platforms to detect and stop unauthorized activity and to prevent the spread of malware.

The Mount Pleasant School District is a K-12 school system that encompasses about 5,000 students and 900 employees spread across eight sites. Although the district's LAN was protected at the perimeter by an intrusion prevention system (IPS) as well as by anti-virus software, the district had no way to control user access on the LAN or to monitor and control how network resources were used. The school district also needed a better way to contain malware, since IPS devices are too expensive to deploy throughout the internal LAN segments. A three-year search for an easy-to-use, affordable LAN security solution that could track and control traffic on the network ultimately led to ConSentry Networks.

"The ConSentry LANShield devices are a great complement to our other security solutions," said Noe Arzate, systems administrator at the Mount Pleasant School District. "The admission control and captive portal features let me control who gains access to the LAN. But I also need to limit what users can do on the LAN, so the post-admission control is critical. For example, I now can make sure that only teachers and key administrators have access to the grading system, and guests and contractors are restricted to Internet access. The visibility the LANShield provides shows me what users did and how and when they did it, so I can correct any problems that may have caused a security breach."

ConSentry Networks Inc.