PROTECT AND SECURE FOR STATE AND LOCAL GOVERNMENT “We needed the network to be up and operational all the time and Cisco could provide the reliability we required. The Cisco security solution has the best reputation in the industry.” Don Miller Telecom/IT Manager Washington State Emergency Management Division STATE OF TE OF TE OF TE OF TE OF WASHINGT SHINGT SHINGT SHINGT SHINGTON EMER ON EMER ON EMER ON EMER ON EMERGENC GENC GENC GENC GENCY MANA MANA MANA MANA MANAGEMENT DIVISION CA GEMENT DIVISION CA GEMENT DIVISION CA GEMENT DIVISION CA GEMENT DIVISION CASE S SE S SE S SE S SE STUD TUD TUD TUD TUDY IMPR IMPR IMPR IMPR IMPROVING EMER VING EMER VING EMER VING EMER VING EMERGENC GENC GENC GENC GENCY OPERA Y OPERA Y OPERA Y OPERA Y OPERATIONS TIONS TIONS TIONS TIONS THR THR THR THR THROUGH OUGH OUGH OUGH OUGH A HIGHL A HIGHL A HIGHL A HIGHL A HIGHLY Y Y Y Y AVAILABLE, AILABLE, AILABLE, AILABLE, AILABLE, SECURE NETWORK SECURE NETWORK SECURE NETWORK SECURE NETWORK SECURE NETWORK “Everyone has cyber attacks. Hackers are coming up with better worms and viruses and infiltrating public networks. As the agency responsible for emergency management, our operations must have a dependable security solution to handle these new threats,” said Don Miller,Telecom/ IT Manager, Washington State Emergency Management Division (EMD). “The Cisco complete security solution includes Intrusion Detection Services (IDS) and Virtual Private Networking (VPN) to provide us with the security we need.” Responsible for coordinating state, county and city emergency operations, the EMD supports a system of emergency response and recovery for various types of disasters and administers radio communications systems and 9-1-1 programs. As such, the EMD provides inter-agency communications through a network of microwave, satellite, fibre,T1, broadband and dial-up. Funding for the EMD network typically comes from grants. Headed by Miller, the section responsible for managing the network has been using Cisco products for some time. Miller’s group ensures seamless communications between disparate emergency management agencies – including state, county and city – in the State of Washington. Due to the nature of the EMD’s
Transcript
PROTECT AND SECURE FOR STATE AND LOCAL GOVERNMENT
“We needed the network to beup and operational all the timeand Cisco could provide thereliability we required. TheCisco security solution has thebest reputation in theindustry.”
Don MillerTelecom/IT Manager
Washington State EmergencyManagement Division
SSSSSTTTTTAAAAATE OF TE OF TE OF TE OF TE OF WWWWWAAAAASHINGTSHINGTSHINGTSHINGTSHINGTON EMERON EMERON EMERON EMERON EMERGENCGENCGENCGENCGENCYYYYY
“Everyone has cyber attacks. Hackers are coming up with better worms
and viruses and infiltrating public networks. As the agency responsible
for emergency management, our operations must have a dependable
security solution to handle these new threats,” said Don Miller, Telecom/
IT Manager, Washington State Emergency Management Division (EMD).
“The Cisco complete security solution includes Intrusion Detection
Services (IDS) and Virtual Private Networking (VPN) to provide us with
the security we need.”
Responsible for coordinating state, county and city emergency
operations, the EMD supports a system of emergency response and
recovery for various types of disasters and administers radio
communications systems and 9-1-1 programs. As such, the EMD provides
inter-agency communications through a network of microwave, satellite,
fibre, T1, broadband and dial-up. Funding for the EMD network typically
comes from grants.
Headed by Miller, the section responsible for managing the network has
been using Cisco products for some time. Miller’s group ensures
seamless communications between disparate emergency
management agencies – including state, county and city – in
the State of Washington. Due to the nature of the EMD’s
responsibilities, its networks must be continuously
available and secure. Security has recently become a
big concern for the EMD, particularly with respect to
cyber attacks.
The Challenge - Safeguarding the NetworkThe Washington State EMD team, which included
Miller, IS Supervisor, Tim Palmer and Network Manager
Jim French, required a comprehensive and highly
available security solution. The ideal network would be
reliable during natural disasters and other adverse
events. With a secure network in place, the EMD
employees could spend less time on threat-defense and
more time on the vital protection and emergency
assistance of the Washington state citizens.
The state required the ability for personnel to access
the Emergency Operations Center (EOC) from any
location. The EMD also wanted to improve site-to-site
communications by providing secure connectivity
among all its agencies. They felt that a VPN would
provide the most secure, cost effective, remote access
and site-to-site connectivity for the state throughout
Western and Eastern Washington.
The ultimate success of the project was due in large
part to the process the EMD team followed. After fully
assessing the need for increased network security, the
EMD worked with Cisco to build the plan for a
complete security solution. The EMD had previously
applied for and obtained funding through a Federal
Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) grant.
Cisco AdvantageOther vendors bidding on the project were unable to
fully compete with Cisco due to the comprehensive
security solution Cisco planned to provide. No other
supplier could provide the breadth of connectivity
and threat defense system offerings, including VPN,
firewalling, network IDS and endpoint protection.
Furthermore, Ciso uniquely offers both standalone
security appliances and security modules that can be
integrated into the wide array of Cisco routers and
switches. The defense-in-depth security offering from
Cisco gave the EMD team confidence to move
forward with Cisco as its security provider.
Internet
Washington State EMD Example Network Design
Server Farm
Local EOC Users
Server Farm
Local EOC Users
Core
& FW
VPN
IDS
WAN
Core
FW &
VPN
WAN & IDS
Western EOC Benton County EOC
The Solution - A Secure Cisco Network,End-to-EndThe EMD planned to install Web EOC information
sharing tools at two EOCs – the state EOC in Western
Washington and Benton County EOC in Eastern
Washington. The secure architectures implemented at
the two EOCs incorporated the following products.
Western EOC:
• Dual Firewall Services Modules (FWSMs)
installed in the core Cisco Catalyst 6513 switches
to provide stateful failover and stateful firewall
protection for all network segments including the
server farm, EOC operations, network operations,
and each of the WAN points of entry
• Cisco VPN 3015 Concentrators with software-
based encryption for remote access VPN,
enabling up to 100 simultaneous IPSec sessions
or 25 simultaneous clientless sessions
• Cisco IDS 4250 Sensors to protect against
unauthorized activity traversing the network, such
as attacks by hackers. These units analyze traffic
in real time for fast response to security breaches
• Catalyst 6513 modular switches for high perform-
ance, high port density Fast Ethernet and Gigabit
Ethernet aggregation in all parts of the network
• Catalyst 2950G-24 stackable switches that provide
wire-speed Fast Ethernet and Gigabit Ethernet
connectivity
Benton County EOC (in progress):
• Routers upgraded to IOS® with IDS
• Hot Standby Router Protocol (HSRP) for high
availability and redundancy
• Cisco PIX® 515 Security Appliances with stateful
failover
• Hardware VPN integrated into the firewall for
support of remote access to the EOC for staff
using Cisco VPN Client software during
emergencies
• Catalyst 4503 modular switches for Intelligent
Switching
• Catalyst 2950G-24 stackable switches
This new security architecture provides EMD a
defense-in-depth security deployment encompassing
the entire network in each EOC. This comprehensive
security is achieved with a layered approach utilizing
various complementary security technologies, such
as firewalling, VPN and IDS, collaborating to provide
the best protection against a variety of threats that
could endanger the productivity and efficiency of the
EMD.
The Results - A Reliable and Secure NetworkAt the time of this writing, the Cisco equipment has
been up and running continuously for nine months. Its
deployment will directly aid in the planned direct and
secure connectivity to department headquarters, other
state agencies and counties. For the EMD employees,
the network is always available, secure and easy to
access in the office or from remote locations.
Employees now have a dependable network on
which they can rely. In turn, the citizens of Washington
State can feel confident in the availability of critical
emergency services.
“Cisco VPN allows us to securely connect and
interface with agencies at all levels – including state,
county and city. This ensures constant communica-
tions,” said Miller.
Corporate HeadquartersCisco Systems, Inc.170 West Tasman DriveSan Jose, CA 95134-1706USAwww.cisco.comTel: 408 526-4000
800 553-NETS (6387)Fax: 408 526-4100
European HeadquartersCisco Systems International BVHaarlerbergparkHaarlerbergweg 13-191101 CH AmsterdamThe Netherlandswww-europe.cisco.comTel: 31 0 20 357 1000Fax: 31 0 20 357 1100
Americas HeadquartersCisco Systems, Inc.170 West Tasman DriveSan Jose, CA 95134-1706USAwww.cisco.comTel: 408 526-7660Fax: 408 527-0883
Asia Pacific HeadquartersCisco Systems, Inc.Capital Tower168 Robinson Road#22-01 to #29-01Singapore 068912www.cisco.comTel: +65 317 7777Fax: +65 317 7799
Cisco Systems has more than 200 offices in the following countries and regions. Addresses, phone numbers, and fax numbers are listed on theCisco Web site at www.cisco.com/go/offices.
Argentina • Australia • Austria • Belgium • Brazil • Bulgaria • Canada • Chile • China PRC • Colombia • Costa Rica • Croatia • Czech RepublicDenmark • Dubai, UAE • Finland • France • Germany • Greece • Hong Kong SAR • Hungary • India • Indonesia • Ireland • Israel • ItalyJapan • Korea • Luxembourg • Malaysia • Mexico • The Netherlands • New Zealand • Norway • Peru • Philippines • Poland • PortugalPuerto Rico • Romania • Russia • Saudi Arabia • Scotland • Singapore • Slovakia • Slovenia • South Africa • Spain • SwedenSwitzerland • Taiwan • Thailand • Turkey • Ukraine • United Kingdom • United States • Venezuela • Vietnam • Zimbabwe
Copyright 2003 Cisco Systems, Inc. All rights reserved. Cisco, Cisco Systems, and the Cisco Systems logo are registered trademarks or trademarks of Cisco Systems, Inc. and/or its affiliates in the U.S. and certainother countries. All other trademarks mentioned in this document or Web site are the property of their respective owners. The use of the word partner does not imply a partnership relationship between Cisco and anyother company. (0301R)Printed in the USA
The network has already demonstrated its strength. The EOC participated in a state-wide test response to a terrorist
dirty-bomb simulation, in which the network remained fully functional.
Also, in a real-life test of the security on the network, the Cisco IDS 4250 sensors blocked worm viruses that had
been (and continue to be) threatening, such as Sobig.F and Nimda. The success of this live test provided
additional confidence in the network to the EMD team.
“We needed the network to be up and operational all the time, and Cisco could provide the reliability we required,”
said Miller. “The Cisco security solution has the best reputation in the industry,” he added.
“Internally, the project ran very well with the excellent work and planning done by Tim Palmer and Jim French.
They deserve the credit for bringing everything at the EMD together. With their effort and commitment, we had a
very successful deployment with Cisco and its partner Northrop Grumman," said Miller.
More InformationFor more information on Protect and Secure for Government, call your Cisco representative or reseller today, or
