22/02-07   -   Press releases

Belgium’s La Poste chooses Deny All to secure its file transfers

The Belgian Post Group now enjoys maximum security for its file transactions with client companies.

Deny All, the European innovator specialised in the protection and acceleration of Web applications, Web Services and FTP recently announced the successful release of its rFTP application firewall to the Belgian Post Group. The latter has chosen the FTP(S), rFTP (remote FTP) application firewall to secure and simplify the management of its file transfer infrastructure.

In view of optimising high volume mail distribution within the shortest time, the Belgian Post Group expressed in the first quarter of 2006 the need to invest in cutting-edge technologies to meet its customers’ needs as closely as possible.
To this end, La Poste decided to launch the implementation of a safe and efficient reverse proxy FTP(S) application firewall. It opted to both secure and simplify its transactions and file exchanges in FTP/TLS to its customers, companies and government departments, end-to-end, in compliance with the RFC4217 standard without having to “open new security holes" in the firewalls already in place (FTP/TLS Clear Command Channel).

For this, the call for tenders initiated in the spring of 2006 imposed prerequisites, of which three were essential. The expected increase in security had to be compatible with the new Internet standard (RFC 4217) and other existing standards within the group, without any risk of impact on the actual technical choices.
Furthermore, the selected solution had to be simple to manage; La Poste did not want the involvement of an integrator. The solution had to be fully handed over to La Poste IT department and its team.
Lastly, the product had to be affordable at an attractive price.

Deny All’s teams fully succeeded in meeting all of these requirements by offering their flagship file transfer securitisation solution: rFTP. The two-month long testing paved the way for the production launching of the pilot solution in November 2006.

In full compliance with the constraints of an already installed base, with the market requirements and also with European guidelines, Deny All provided La Poste with the most comprehensive and innovative FTP(S) application firewall on the market.

The Belgian Post Group states: “In the face of the increasing security levels required for electronic data exchanges with our large partner companies, we have opted for a homogeneous and efficient infrastructure that meets the emerging secure file transfer standards, in this case FTP(S). A quick market study convinced us that Deny All, through its pioneering vision in the field, was a preferred potential partner.

The first “trial" customer for this collaboration, a leading player in the banking sector, can now exchange its files and its private information with La Poste in complete security.

“The trust that the Belgian Post Group has shown us strengthens Deny All´s position as the European leader in Web application and FTP securitization. File transfers and inter-company transaction securitization are critical challenges today and will be more so tomorrow. We provide and guarantee an efficient, smart and highly secure solution for this", explains Patrick Asty, Deny All’s CEO.

La Poste has purchased two rFTP appliances (1-5 sites) and can now offer its client and partner companies the highest levels of security for critical data transfers. The improved and accelerated flow ensure optimal quality of service.

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About De Post-La Poste
De Post-La Poste is one of Belgium’s largest companies. Its main activities are grouped in two business units: Mail and Retail.The Mail business unit handles 3.7 billion mail items per year. Every day, 15,000 mail carriers visit 4.5 million households and put mail in some 6 million post boxes.The Retail business unit offers a broad range of services to customers through its network of 1,300 post offices and contact points. De Post-La Poste endeavours to meet the evolving needs of its customers. Its other business units and its subsidiaries always offer customers innovative solutions in mail handling and delivery. The Belgian State holds 50% plus 1 share of the capital of De Post-La Poste. The Post Danmark-CVC consortium holds the remaining shares.

About Deny All
Deny All is the European specialist of Web-, XML- and FTP- application firewalls. Deny All delivers proven solutions to major organisations worldwide, across all market sectors. The product range, rWeb, rWeb-XML Edition, rFTP and sProxy, available in the form of software and appliances, ensures protection, authentication (SSO, SSL, X509, RSA SecurID, Radius) and acceleration of Internet, extranet and intranet transactions.
One single appliance is capable of protecting up to hundred of web sites and Deny All’s easy-to-install solutions guarantee the highest level of protection against known and unknown attacks present in HTTPS, SOAP/XML and FTP(S) data streams. Developed initially to meet the critical demands of the banking sector and based on reverse proxy technology, the standard Deny All firewall, rWeb, has the advantages of 9 years’ production and 10 years’ continuous R&D investment. Today, rWeb implementations protect more than 4,000 web applications across the world.
Deny All´s headquarters are in Paris with European offices in Germany, Nordics, Spain and UK. The company is active across Europe.
A privately-owned company, Deny All’s major investors are Société Générale, Crédit Agricole Private Equity and Truffle Ventures. An HP and Crossbeam Systems partner, Deny All is a member of SAP Global Security Alliance, Liberty Alliance, OSSIR and CLUSIF.

About rFTP
rFTP – remote FTP –FTP(S) application firewall, secures, simplifies and reduces deployment and management costs for file transfer infrastructures.
It guarantees the highest level of protection for servers and data transfer in FTP mode, thus protecting companies from risks linked to security flaws, such as confidential information theft, industrial espionage and damage to brand image.