Money Management International Ensures Application Security and Preserves System Performance with AppSense Solutions

Business Wire, March 7, 2006

FT. LAUDERDALE, Fla. -- Eliminates End Point Security Risks without Patching

AppSense, a security software specialist, today announced that Money Management International (MMI), a full-service provider of consumer credit counseling services, is using AppSense solutions to fully secure its application environment, eliminating the need for the more common, reactive method of patching for protection, and is maximizing response time for users in its 140 nationwide locations.

"As one of only a few agencies authorized to provide bankruptcy counseling under the new federal bankruptcy regulations, MMI is experiencing tremendous growth. Ensuring security of clients' confidential financial information while preserving application performance for our expanding user base is vitally important," said Matt Jarrell, IT systems and services director, MMI. "AppSense makes it easy to protect all our end points without having to worry about anti-virus software being up-to-date, which could ultimately affect system performance. Absolutely nothing gets through with AppSense on our servers."

AppSense provides MMI with a fail-safe, proactive way to secure applications, which is easily administered and meets the organization's high-performance needs. Since installing the AppSense security solution, which includes AppSense Application Manager and Environment Manager, MMI has realized significant benefits:

--Eliminate security risks. Today's anti-virus solutions are inherently reactive because they rely on patches or signature updates. By design, they cannot be fail-safe. AppSense makes it easy for MMI to completely and proactively secure its application environment. Unauthorized applications such as spyware, bots, adware, key loggers, worms and trojans, whether known or unknown to system administrators, can never execute when AppSense is running.

--Flexible Security Zero-tolerance is a policy where enterprises eliminate security threats by eliminating access points to the enterprise--like the Internet or e-mail--regardless of possible resulting losses in user productivity. When MMI first installed AppSense, the goal was to prevent people from using unauthorized applications so that no one would be affected by another person's software use. This proactive approach kept the end points secure. User desktops--pre-configured terminals--were limited to a set of business-critical applications that the majority of MMI personnel needed. While this ensured maximum security, it curtailed productivity. By upgrading MMI's AppSense solution ensured that IT did not need to implement a 'Zero Tolerance' policy in order to prevent unauthorized applications from executing and safeguard end points. Specific user groups are able to safely and securely access and run job-specific applications, balancing enterprise security with productivity. AppSense's central configuration and policy management capabilities make it easy for IT to control enterprise-wide application use at a granular level.

--Improve system performance. In addition to enhancing performance by eliminating the threat of malware on their Citrix servers, MMI uses AppSense's CPU throttling capability to control how applications perform and affect CPU usage. AppSense enables each user to feel like they are the only one on the server, regardless of how many people are actually using it and what type of applications they are running.

--Enhance Microsoft OS functionality. AppSense's folder redirection capability, which isn't available in native Windows Group Policy, enables MMI to redirect document folders so that all of a user's documents follow from machine to machine, regardless of what server she is on.

The AppSense Security solution provides out-of-the box protection against malware, prevents unauthorized application use and preserves endpoint environments. It enables enterprises to automatically secure, manage and optimize IT infrastructures, and reduce labor and capital costs. It is comprised of:

--AppSense Application Manager: automatically blocks 100% of unauthorized executables, enabling IT to proactively secure systems in ways previously not possible.

--AppSense Environment Manager: centrally sets up, locks down and self-heals user environments.

--AppSense Performance Manager: dynamically controls processor, memory and system resources, and consolidates the system infrastructure.

"Ensuring security and protecting consumer financial data is vital to Money Management's operations," said Charles Sharland, CEO, AppSense. "We're pleased that MMI is using AppSense's proactive approach to protecting and preserving their environment, and that they continue to implement and benefit from our expanded security capabilities."

About AppSense Ltd.

AppSense is the leading provider of application-level endpoint security solutions for the enterprise - proactively protecting desktops, laptops, servers, virtual systems and embedded devices against all forms of malicious software and preserving end point environments in their optimal state to ensure system integrity. AppSense software secures thousands of organizations and is installed on hundreds of thousands of desktops and servers across the world in mid-to-large organizations and across many industries such as Public Sector, Finance, Pharmaceutical and Healthcare. AppSense solutions have been designed for desktops and servers which are based upon the Microsoft Windows platform and are ideal for Windows, Terminal Servers, Citrix MetaFrame Presentation Servers, Web Services and other critical business systems. AppSense operates through a world-wide channel of certified partners with offices in the US, UK, Germany, The Netherlands and Australia. For more information visit www.appsense.com