
Powergen Deploys the Full Range of Xiscan
Products & Services
With deregulation of the energy and telecoms
markets, the Utilities sector has become one of
the most dynamic sectors in the UK economy.
With the acquisition of TXU's retail business,
Powergen (now E.ON UK) became the UK's number
one electricity supplier with around 6 million
gas and electricity customers and number two in
energy with around 8.4 million electricity and
gas accounts. The company is a part of E.ON AG -
the world's largest investor-owned utility.
With such a diverse and rapidly expanding range
of business activities (from operating power
stations to running intensively customer-facing
businesses) Powergen relies heavily on a wide
range of computer systems. For most modern
companies, computer security is integral to
business operations. One area often overlooked,
however, is the interface between data and voice
(telephony) networks. Aware of the specific risks
that this increasingly tight integration presents,
Powergen has opted to use Xiscan to quantify and
assist in the management of computer access
through the telephone system.
Xiscan is a tool specifically designed to
locate modems providing access to an
organisation's data network.
Powergen chose to use the full range of Xiscan
services. Xiscan was delivered as a preinstalled
turnkey solution. Powergen used Xiscan consultants
to perform production configuration in conjunction
with key Powergen staff to model Powergen's
telecommunications infrastructure. The result was
a set of scan schedules designed around the
specific operational characteristics of each of
Powergen's different business units. Using these
schedules, Xiscan consultants performed extensive
daytime, nighttime and weekend scanning,
completing over 73,000 calls over the audit
period. The output was a detailed and
comprehensive analysis of the state of modem
connectivity throughout Powergen. Subsequently,
on-site training of Powergen staff has been
provided to allow them to fully understand Xiscan
in a day-to-day operational capacity.
Using the full range of Xiscan services has
allowed Powergen to take a proactive role in
managing modem security. The initial involvement
of experienced consultants has fast-tracked the
normal learning process, allowing Powergen to get
the most out of Xiscan from day one. In addition,
one of the peripheral benefits from the Xiscan
audit has been a better understanding of the voice
telephony network. This has allowed Powergen to
critically examine areas where there is capacity
in excess of that required for business
resilience, with the potential for corresponding
cost savings.
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Xiscan takes security controls from
reactive to proactive vulnerability
detection - finding problems before
they find you. It is proving to be the
ultimate 'wake up call' for telephony
line ingress control.
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Information
Security Architect,
Powergen
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