University selects OpenDNS Enterprise to protect its wired and Wi-Fi networks and nearly 3,000 student and faculty members while increasing Internet speed, centralizing management, and improving insights.
OpenDNS, the world’s largest and fastest-growing provider of Internet security and DNS services that deliver a safer, faster and more intelligent Internet experience to everyone, today announced Regent University is using OpenDNS Enterprise, the favorite security solution of colleges and universities across the globe. Regent University, a leading academic center offering rigorous programs and high academic standards, selected OpenDNS Enterprise because the cloud-based solution allows for improved security and easier management and monitoring of its wired and Wi-Fi networks.
Prior to deploying OpenDNS Enterprise Regent University was using an appliance-based Blue Coat solution for some very basic filtering of malicious domains, but the solution tended to create more problems than it actually solved. The team was searching for a more comprehensive way to prevent malware from proliferating across the campus.
A trusted team of Regent University engineers who were familiar with OpenDNS’s home offerings recommended that Director of Network Engineering, Jonathan Harrell, and his team begin testing OpenDNS Enterprise. Right away it was clear that the DNS-based security solution was ideal for scaling to serve the large campus without creating network bottlenecks, and it would be able to uniquely prevent the proliferation of malware at the university.
“With lightweight OpenDNS Enterprise we can now identify and block malware before users even know how to find it,” explained Harrell. “More importantly, we can easily look at a high-level flyover of all of our networks and identify trends before they become problems. That means we’re preventing malware instead of cleaning it up.”
OpenDNS Enterprise offers a two-pronged approach to malware protection. First, the solution prohibits access to sites known to host malware so that the university’s students and faculty can’t download it. Second, OpenDNS Enterprise eliminates communication between devices that are already infected and the networks they access, meaning that malware and botnets are both disabled from communicating with their online hosts and proliferating across the network.
Additionally, OpenDNS Enterprise offers network managers the ability to easily gain insight on what is happening across their networks without having to sort through heavy or complicated reports. “The centralized OpenDNS Enterprise Web-based Dashboard allows us to regain complete control over our network,” Harrell continued. “Whether I’m making network changes, examining high-level network reports, or drilling down to identify the source of potential threats, I can do it all on the go with easy-to-understand reports.”