Microsoft Forefront and System Center
Customer Solution Case Study
Customs Service Uses Integrated Solution to
Help Protect and Manage IT Environment
Overview
Country or Region: Australia
Industry: Government
Customer Profile
The Australian Customs Service (Customs),
based in Canberra, Australia, is the
national agency charged with securing
Australia’s borders. It employs more than
5,000 people in Australia and around the
world.
Business Situation
Customs sought a solution to help secure
and manage its complex, newly installed IT
environment, which is based on Microsoft®
products and technologies.
Solution
The agency implemented a new security
and management solution that integrates
Microsoft Forefront™ Client Security and
Microsoft System Center IT management
solutions.
Benefits
 Improved security
 Full integration
 Simplified management
“Using Forefront Client Security and System Center IT
management solutions, we have an easy way to
manage and monitor security, as well as all of our
important systems.”
John Rodgers, Director of Technical Infrastructure Support, Australian Customs Service
The Australian Customs Service (Customs) is a government agency
that uses high-tech methods to protect Australia’s borders from
illegal immigration, drug smuggling, and other security threats. To
support its mission critical efforts, the organization relies on a
comprehensive IT infrastructure to manage thousands of
computers and mobile devices. In addition, Customs recently
implemented a complex new IT environment based on Microsoft®
products and technologies. To meet the security and system
management challenges of this infrastructure, Customs has
deployed an IT solution based on Microsoft Forefront™ Client
Security and Microsoft System Center IT management solutions.
With this integrated solution in place, Customs has improved
security and simplified IT infrastructure management. In addition,
the agency has streamlined the process of updating computers and
improved overall system reporting.
Situation
The Australian Customs Service (Customs) is
responsible for securing Australia’s borders
to prevent illegal goods and people from
entering the country. Customs partners with
several other Australian government
departments and agencies to manage cargo
import inspection, ocean patrol, and airport
passenger processing.
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John Rodgers, Director of Technical
The agency has more than 5,000 employees
who work in 94 offices in Australia and
around the world. The Australia-based
workforce relies heavily on technology to
enforce border security. For example,
computer-based analysis and other high-tech
tactics are used to identify high-risk vessels
and aircraft or potentially dangerous cargo,
postal items, and passengers. Some of these
high-tech techniques are even shown on TV in
the reality program Border Security, which
highlights Customs employees as they fight
illegal immigration, drug smuggling, and other
threats.
Additionally, Customs has recently rolled out
an entirely new IT environment, standardized
on the Windows Server® 2003 Enterprise
Edition operating system. This new
environment also includes Microsoft®
Exchange Server 2007, Microsoft Office
SharePoint® Server 2007, and the Active
Directory® service. The new Windows Vista®
operating system has been installed on about
100 employee computers.
Customs needed an integrated solution that
simplified administration and security
management for this growing, increasingly
complex IT infrastructure.
Solution
To meet its security and system management
challenges, Customs implemented a
comprehensive IT solution based on
Microsoft Forefront™ security products and
Microsoft System Center IT management
solutions.
The complex IT infrastructure that supports
these efforts consists of 5,800 computers,
including 600 notebook computers and
hundreds of mobile devices, all of which run
50 core applications. Protecting this
infrastructure from security threats is a key
component of the agency’s directive to
properly secure the border.
Specifically, Customs deployed Microsoft
Forefront Client Security, a software solution
that guards computers and server operating
systems from spyware, malicious software,
and other threats. Forefront Client Security
also contains a security state assessment
feature that discovers and reports on security
issues.
For the past several years, Customs had been
protecting its computers and servers from
spam, viruses, and other threats with a thirdparty security software tool. Because of this,
system security was unreliable and overall IT
management was difficult. “We definitely
wanted to improve security,” says John
Rodgers, Director of Technical Infrastructure
Support, Australian Customs Service. “Also, it
was difficult to provide software updates
efficiently with the previous solution. We did
not have an effective way to determine which
computers had received updates.”
The Microsoft System Center IT management
solutions deployed at Customs include
Microsoft Operations Manager 2005, which
monitors servers and computers while
helping to simplify identification of problems
and quickly resolve them. Operations
Manager 2005 also gives IT administrators
access to management packs for Forefront
Client Security and other products. The
solutions also include Microsoft Systems
Management Server 2003, which Customs
uses to provide remote control, software
distribution, and software and hardware
inventory. Customs is also using Windows
Server Update Services to deploy new scan
engine updates and virus signature files.
“Forefront Client Security gives us
comprehensive, easy-to-read reporting tools
so we can make that happen.”
Both Forefront Client Security and Microsoft
System Center IT management solutions are
designed to fully integrate with existing
Windows®-based IT infrastructures.
Full Integration
Forefront Client Security and System Center
IT management solutions also integrate fully
with the overall Customs IT infrastructure. For
example, Forefront Client Security integrates
easily with Windows Server Update Services,
making it simple for Customs to send security
definitions to individual computers. “That
interaction helps automate those processes,”
says Rodgers. “We can quickly and easily
deploy software updates to all employee
computers.”
Benefits
With an integrated solution that combines
Forefront Client Security and System Center
IT management solutions, the Australian
Customs Service has improved security and
simplified IT infrastructure management. The
solution also streamlines the process of
updating computers and improves overall
system reporting.
Improved Security
Forefront Client Security provides Customs
with an effective software solution that
improves protection for the organization’s
5,000-plus computers. In fact, it detected
several security threats soon after
deployment. “Forefront Client Security
identified a Trojan within a few minutes of its
entering the environment,” says Rodgers.
“One of our developers had inadvertently
introduced that program into a computer
through a USB drive. Forefront Client Security
picked it up, and the product’s alerting
mechanism quickly showed us where it was.”
Forefront Client Security also provides
comprehensive reporting features, such as a
security state assessment that gives
information about potential system
vulnerabilities. Client Security also delivers
automated, scheduled reports accessed with
a single, interactive reporting base. With this
centralized reporting feature, system
administrators can determine overall system
status and drill down into individual computer
details. “We need to provide security reports
on a regular basis to make sure we’re
demonstrating due diligence,” says Rodgers.
In addition, Customs benefits from the
integration of Operations Manager and
Systems Management Server 2003 into its
existing Windows-based IT infrastructure.
“Overall management is easier because of
the integration,” says Rodgers. For instance,
Systems Management Server gives Customs
automatic updating capabilities. As a result,
Customs IT administrators do not need to
travel to remote locations to install new
software on user computers. “The proper
applications are automatically updated
across all 94 locations across Australia,” says
Rodgers. “Whenever employees log on to the
network, they can be sure they have the right
applications. Software distribution is not
something we need to worry about anymore.”
Simplified Management
Forefront Client Security and the Microsoft
System Center IT management solutions also
give Customs an easy way to manage its
critical systems and applications. Because of
how well Forefront Client Security, Operations
Manager, and Systems Management Server
integrate with the overall IT infrastructure at
Customs, computer management can be
done from a single point of administration.
Forefront Client Security and Operations
Manager are also optimized for Active
For More Information
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Directory and other technologies in the
Customs IT infrastructure. This optimization
simplifies the management, deployment, and
administration of Forefront Client Security.
“Using Forefront Client Security and System
Center IT management solutions, we have an
easy way to manage and monitor security, as
well as all of our important systems,” says
Rodgers. “As our IT infrastructure continues
to grow in size and complexity, we now have
the assurance that security, administration,
and management are already taken care of.”
Microsoft Forefront Product Portfolio
The Microsoft® Forefront™ comprehensive
line of business security products provides
greater protection and control through
integration with your existing IT infrastructure
and through simplified deployment,
management, and analysis. Forefront is a
comprehensive solution that helps provide
protection for the client operating system,
application servers, and the network edge.
For more information about the Forefront
product portfolio, go to:
www.microsoft.com/forefront
Microsoft System Center
For more information about the Australian
Customs Service, visit the Web site at:
www.customs.gov.au
Microsoft® System Center is a family of
leading IT management solutions that helps
you proactively plan, deploy, manage, and
optimize your IT environment. System Center
solutions capture and aggregate knowledge
about your infrastructure, policies, processes,
and best practices so your IT staff can build
manageable systems and automate
operations in order to reduce costs, improve
application availability, and enhance service
delivery.
For more information about the System
Center family of solutions, go to:
www.microsoft.com/systemcenter
Software and Services

This case study is for informational purposes only. MICROSOFT
MAKES NO WARRANTIES, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, IN THIS
SUMMARY.
Document published June 2007
Microsoft Server Product Portfolio
− Microsoft Forefront Client Security
− Microsoft Operations Manager 2005
− Microsoft Systems Management Server
2003