Modern Woodmen of America

As one of the largest member-owned fraternal financial services organizations in the U.S., Modern Woodmen of America provides life insurance, annuities and other financial products to more than 750,000 members nationwide. Founded in 1883, the organization’s name was inspired by pioneering woodmen clearing forests and building communities to provide security for their families. Modern Woodmen’s founder felt this was the perfect symbol to illustrate his goal of clearing away financial burdens for families.

Based in Rock Island, Illinois, Modern Woodmen of America has more than 500 employees and approximately 1,500 field representatives serving members in 48 states. The organization is committed to improving the lives of its members and their communities through financial guidance and social, educational and volunteer fraternal activities.

Modern Woodmen’s IT security team supports the entire IT environment and workforce, including internal endpoints and laptops used by representatives in the field. While the organization was already using Trend Micro™ OfficeScan™ solution to successfully secure the endpoints for more than 500 internal users, it had issues protecting endpoints for its 1,500 field representatives with another security vendor’s solution. “It was a struggle to keep our field representatives’ devices protected at the level we felt they should be protected,” said Darwin Larrison, Senior Manager Information Security, Modern Woodmen.

Modern Woodmen wanted to extend the benefits of a virtual desktop infrastructure (VDI) but did not want a security solution that caused performance problems. As a financial organization, it is required to comply with regulations, including Federal Financial Institutions Examination Council (FFIEC) standards, Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) and multi-state insurance regulations.

To improve efficiency and increase visibility across the organization, Modern Woodmen hoped to unify its security ecosystem, connect solutions and quickly generate detailed reports on its security posture for the board of directors and senior management.

"We look for best-of-breed solutions, and Trend Micro pushes the envelope to achieve new levels of protection and deliver the best security products available."

Darwin D. Larrison,
Senior Manager, Information Security

Since Modern Woodmen was already using OfficeScan to protect its internal endpoints and Trend Micro™ Deep Security™ solution for VDI, its IT security team was pleased to learn about Trend Micro™ Worry-Free™ Services to secure the remote workforce.

After conducting a thorough proof of concept, the organization found Worry-Free Services met its needs for protection, productivity and efficiency in a hosted model. “With Worry-Free Services, we can provide our field representatives with the best possible protection for their laptops without the need for internal infrastructure to support it,” said Larrison.

"Trend Micro solutions help us understand the threat landscape."

Darwin D. Larrison,
Senior Manager, Information Security

Worry-Free Services delivers automatic updates directly to laptops. This ensures remote computers are always protected. The solution defends against viruses and malware with machine learning technology, and it includes advanced URL filtering that blocks inappropriate websites and web threat protection that stops malware before it reaches users. “After installation, the solution immediately identified security gaps, which we were able to quickly resolve to get back to a healthy baseline,” said Larrison.

Deep Security is currently being used by approximately 200 internal users on VDI. “Deep Security makes total sense for VDI. We don’t want locally installed agents or anything else slowing down a VDI image, and the real-time monitoring and protection at the hypervisor level is a key feature,” said Larrison.

Trend Micro also helped Modern Woodmen unify its security solution management into a single screen. With Trend Micro Control Manager ™, the company can manage OfficeScan, Deep Security and Worry-Free Services from the same console. “Tying everything together on a single pane of glass gives our team visibility across our entire threat landscape,” said Larrison.

"With Worry-Free hosted endpoint security, we can provide our field representatives with the best possible protection for their laptops without having to set up an internal infrastructure to support it."

Darwin D. Larrison,
Senior Manager, Information Security

With Trend Micro solutions protecting endpoints for its internal and remote workforce, Modern Woodmen has taken a huge step toward formalizing its cybersecurity program and providing real-time protection for its member information.

The solutions also help to reduce security management costs by decreasing the time spent fixing issues and minimizing compliance concerns. “Trend Micro solutions help us understand the threat landscape to improve our overall security and our regulatory compliance posture,” said Larrison.

With Control Manager generating granular reports on Modern Woodmen’s security posture, the security team can now deliver actionable information to their board, senior management and directors to support the value of its security investment. “Trend Micro solutions are doing a great job of keeping Modern Woodmen protected,” said Larrison.

Looking ahead, Modern Woodmen plans to continue to align with the company’s strategic cybersecurity framework. “We’re looking forward to upgrading to the latest version of OfficeScan with machine learning and emerging technologies, which are revolutionizing IT security,” said Larrison.

Modern Woodmen also plans to offer Worry-Free Services with mobile protection to its field representatives once testing is complete. “Most importantly, we plan to continue securing our IT environment with best-of-breed solutions and remain a trusted advisor to our members,” said Larrison.