Sylvia Harder
Works at Optigrün International AG with 51-200 employees
USE CASE
We have been in contact with Trend Micro for a very long time. We have a Domino server, which is the alternative to an Exchange server, and we have implemented their virus scanner there. Because of that, we decided to stick with the company and integrate Email Gateway Protection as well. It is important for us because we host our own mail server, and we receive a huge amount of spam. The goal was to reduce that. So far, we have reduced our email traffic by almost 50%—thanks to email filtering. This means our employees do not have to handle those emails any more.
We receive around 1,000,000 emails per year and 500,000 of those are junk. That was a key factor in saving work time. Every email that lands in an inbox has to be handled—either deleted or responded to. We tested this with different employees and found that deciding whether an email is relevant or junk takes about 10 to 15 seconds per email. With 500,000 unnecessary emails, you can imagine how much time we are saving company-wide.
Another major reason we implemented this solution is phishing emails. This is a huge issue. Trend offers phishing awareness training, but ideally, these phishing emails should not even reach our company, as they are highly dangerous. So far, Trend has filtered out around 3,700 phishing emails for us.
There is another extremely dangerous issue—malicious software hidden in attachments. If an employee clicks on such an attachment, files could get encrypted. In the past year, Trend has intercepted 60 such cases, meaning 60 incidents where our files did not get encrypted.
This is why we use this solution. Of course, there are other providers, but we find Trend Vision One's interface very user-friendly. We also have a dashboard where we can track everything and pull these statistics.
Trend offers phishing awareness training, but ideally, these phishing emails should not even reach our company, as they are highly dangerous. So far, Trend has filtered out around 3,700 phishing emails for us.
HOW HAS IT HELPED MY ORGANISATION?
In Germany, such a security solution is very important. Due to a change in the law, company management is now obligated to ensure that IT security is based on best practises. If they fail to do so or are unaware of their security status and neglect it, they are now personally liable with their private assets. I also need a tool that allows my management and board to monitor our security status. One of the reasons why we chose Trend Vision One was that it provides the option for the board to check the dashboards. This means that every morning while having coffee, they can see the security status of the company on their phones. They can also ask, "Hey, why is our security score high? Is our IT department not working properly? Or do we have a real problem that requires additional software or other measures?" Additionally, negotiations become easier for the IT department, for management, and for us. If security gaps arise, we can say, "Hey, we need software or an investment of a certain amount." We now have a solid foundation for our case.
We use email security and endpoint protection. Endpoint protection is installed on every computer and server, with enhanced sensors on the servers. These security tools are crucial for us—without them, we would be blind in IT. They allow us to monitor the health of each system and user activity, including preventing access to inappropriate websites.
We have a lot of remote work, and we used to struggle because we could not properly monitor devices outside our network or firewall. Now, we can control things like applications, websites, USB sticks, and external hard drives, which was previously impossible. A key feature of our endpoint protection is that if a computer reaches a certain security risk score, it is automatically blocked by the software. This means that if an attack occurs, the affected computer is isolated from the network, preventing further spread.
Our biggest challenge is not direct hacking attacks—our company is not a high-priority target. Instead, phishing emails are the main issue. These emails attempt to trick employees into making fraudulent payments or providing access to our systems, allowing ransomware installation. Email security is our biggest focus area.
It has significantly reduced email volume, which is crucial, especially for our security team, as they do not have time to review every message. IT also receives fewer enquiries about whether emails are legitimate. Additionally, phishing training has helped—our employees recognise phishing attempts better, and our click rate on phishing simulations has dropped to zero. Previously, conducting a phishing simulation would have cost €2,500 per test, but now, we can run one or two tests per month at no additional cost. This provides great value.
It is important for us that Trend Vision One has AI built into its platform. It is essential for detecting abnormalities quickly. Humans may not notice certain threats, but AI can. However, AI is not perfect and sometimes lets suspicious emails through, which we then manually review in quarantine. AI is constantly learning, and the more it improves, the less manual intervention is needed, which is beneficial for us.
We now have visibility. Previously, we were blind and could not assess our security status.
Trend Vision One helped reduce our time to detect and respond to threats. Previously, we relied on reading security forums and websites to identify vulnerabilities. Now, we get real-time alerts and can take immediate action.
Our speed has increased significantly. We can update and patch security threats daily, whereas before, it took weeks or even months.
Trend Vision One has helped our organisation reduce its cyber risk, especially through endpoint protection. For example, our field employees used to connect unknown external hard drives, which posed a risk. That is no longer possible, eliminating a major threat vector.
Trend Vision One has helped consolidate our use of security vendors. Previously, we only had basic endpoint protection from another provider, which we replaced with Trend Vision. We now have more security software, not less, because our company has grown significantly—from a small business to a mid-sized enterprise. The IT department was lagging behind, and security was not a priority. Now, we manage everything with one provider, rather than multiple vendors.
VALUABLE FEATURES
The dashboard is valuable. It provides a comprehensive view of our security status and allows us to compare ourselves with other companies using Trend Vision. We can immediately see if we need to take action when updates are released with high CVE scores, without having to check multiple websites. This saves time and enables faster decision-making.
The platform provides not only visibility but also intervention capabilities, such as blocking threats. We are operating at a high level in this regard. I would rate Trend’s Vision One platform very high in providing centralised visibility and management across protection layers.
WHAT NEEDS IMPROVEMENT?
Improving the user interface would be helpful—it can be confusing, especially if you do not use it daily.
We do not see a need for additional features. The tool has so many capabilities that it can be overwhelming at first, which is why we implemented it step by step to avoid overwhelming our administrators.
FOR HOW LONG HAVE I USED THE SOLUTION?
We started with the Email Gateway Protection solution in December.
Trend Vision One helped reduce our time to detect and respond to threats. Previously, we relied on reading security forums and websites to identify vulnerabilities. Now, we get real-time alerts and can take immediate action.
WHAT DO I THINK ABOUT THE STABILITY OF THE SOLUTION?
Its stability is very good. We have not had any failures so far.
WHAT DO I THINK ABOUT THE SCALABILITY OF THE SOLUTION?
Its scalability is very good as we can work with it flexibly.
We have an environment with 160 users and about 15 servers, all virtualised and running entirely on-premise.
HOW ARE CUSTOMER SERVICE AND SUPPORT?
It is very good. If we have a problem, we call Mr. Weckwert or send him an email and receive a response.
HOW WOULD YOU RATE CUSTOMER SERVICE AND SUPPORT?
Positive.
WHICH SOLUTION DID I USE PREVIOUSLY AND WHY DID I SWITCH?
We used SonicWall’s endpoint protection before, but it had issues. For example, the endpoint protection conflicted with VPN installations, requiring us to uninstall security features before updating VPN settings—an unacceptable security risk. With Trend Vision, we feel much better protected.
SonicWall is just a basic antivirus tool, whereas Trend Vision One provides more advanced features like software firewalls and the ability to block specific applications and websites, such as preventing employees from using Telegram or WhatsApp on work computers.
A downside is that Trend Vision One requires more system resources, so we had to upgrade some computers with additional RAM. However, that is not just due to Trend Vision One but also Windows 11’s increased demands.
HOW WAS THE INITIAL SETUP?
We use a hybrid model—Trend Vision’s cloud solution with local installations on our devices. We operate entirely on-premise.
We worked with a partner and now manage everything internally.
WHAT ABOUT THE IMPLEMENTATION TEAM?
For the implementation, all admins were present to understand how it works. It was like a training session for us.
Fundamentally, there is one colleague responsible for it, and they spend about an hour to an hour and a half on it daily.
In terms of maintenance, it only requires updates.
WHAT WAS OUR ROI?
We have seen an ROI through time savings. The email filtering system paid for itself within a year.
WHAT'S MY EXPERIENCE WITH PRICING, SETUP COST, AND LICENCING?
It is very good. The flexibility to temporarily exceed licence limits when setting up new devices is helpful, as it allows us to ensure security before purchasing additional licences.
WHAT OTHER ADVICE DO I HAVE?
Try it out. Ultimately, everyone has to decide for themselves if it fits their admin team. What I always say is that this tool monitors you and provides insights—it exposes weaknesses in an IT department. If IT management cannot handle that level of transparency, they should avoid it. If they see value in having more insights, it is a very valuable tool.
I would rate Trend Vision One an eight out of ten.
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