The Challenge
Even the best network security products can receive a slightly negative review. This is what happened to the Astaro Security Gateway and what was brought to the attention of Mike Thompson, Compliance Officer at Logansport Savings Bank in Indiana. "We were approached by a competitor of Astaro who told us that our Astaro IPS received negative reviews and didn't perform the way we were told it would. Although we were happy with the Astaro Security Gateway, we felt it was wise to at least listen to what the competitor had to say just to be safe," explained Thompson.

The Test
Thompson decided to test the Astaro Security Gateway against the compeitor's product. Logansport was auditing their security processes at the time so there was a lot of activity going on already. He began the test by placing the competitor's product behind the Astaro Security Gateway for 30 days. This made the Astaro their first line of defense and the competing product could catch what the Astaro missed.

Next Thompson set up the Astaro behind the competitor's product, reversing the order. This made the competing product the first line of defense and would allow the Astaro to catch what the compeition missed.

The Results
At the end of the first 30 day test, Thompson saw that Astaro only missed four attacks, all of which were classified as "low risk" by the competing product and on further review were determined to be no risk as all.

When the second 30 day test was comeplete, Logansport found that the competitor's product missed attacks that the Astaro was able to catch.

Sticking with Astaro
"The results made it clear to us that we made the right choice when we deployed the Astaro Security Gateway," said Thompson. He continued: "The competitor claimed that the attacks they missed and the Astaro caught were fake and that the Astaro was 'paranoid'. Because our unit is not monitored 27/7/365, I have no problem with the Astaro being a little paranoid. The competitor was not able to convince us that they had a superior product. Therefore we decided to stick with Astaro.

Thompson also liked that Astaro Security Gateway offered more than just an IPS. It also offered malware, spyware protection while the competing product did not. "After the test results came back we couldn't possibly justify switching from Astaro," said Thompson.