Agi blocks large volumes of threats and adds real-time observability with Azion's Edge Firewall

Challenge

In addition to being innovative, Agi is recognized as one of the most secure banks in Brazil^[1], with a highly qualified team working in its Security Operations Center (SOC)^[2] to protect and monitor Agi’s applications.

Agi’s security provides clients with the freedom and tranquility to manage their financial life, but ensuring their security is increasingly challenging, considering that: hundreds of thousands of attacks are registered monthly^[3] by financial services – and the sector is among the four most targeted by cybercrime^[4].

Virtual threats also put Agi’s availability at risk. In addition to creating negative consequences for customers, who need the service available at all times, unplanned outages generate costs and cause damage to the company’s image.

Amid so many cybersecurity challenges, Agi improves security practices every day, guided not only by rules and regulations such as Central Bank of Brazil Resolution 4,658 (Bacen) and General Data Protection Law, but high technology.

For this, Agi relies on Azion’s Edge Platform. Azion’s security products and resources enable the construction of access control rules and protect applications against today’s most complex cyber threats.

Solution

The partnership between Agi and Azion began in 2018, when Agi implemented Azion’s Edge Firewall in order to control access to its content directly on the edge. Extensible and programmable, Edge Firewall allows Agibank’s Information Security specialists to create rules that:

• protect against network layer to application layer (3 to 7) attacks;
• monitor, block and apply penalties based on behavioral patterns;
• validate implementations faster, streamlining the CI / CD (continuous integration / continuous delivery) workflow; and
• customize rule sets to meet compliance requirements.

In addition, when the volume of DDoS attack traffic grew between 40% and 50%^[5] at the beginning of the Covid-19 pandemic, Agi had DDoS Protection through the Azion Platform.

Azion’s DDoS Protection provides a distributed global network composed of several mitigation centers and a Security Response team to deal with attacks of high complexity and volume.

For a more powerful mitigation of sophisticated attacks, such as BGP Hijacking, Agi leveraged Azion’s Data Streaming product to:

• monitor and mitigate threats in real time;
• feed data into their SIEM (Security Information and Event Management) platform; and
• optimize observability practices.

Integrating Azion’s solutions with its security mechanism has made it easier for Agi to optimize the contingency systems and routines that allow for continued operations in the midst of any scenario or event that affects its infrastructure.

Results and Impacts

Since the beginning of this partnership, Azion Web Application Firewall (WAF) has automatically detected tens of thousands of threats, protecting Agi’s origin infrastructure and guaranteeing their customers’ security with each access.

With Azion Data Streaming, Agi collectes real-time data from WAF events in domains chosen by the SOC team and integrated with their SIEM platform for fraud mitigation and analysis.

In addition to providing protection and essential insights into observability practices, Azion ensures 100% of user requests are answered at the edge. Agi has leveraged this practice to make its defensive line even more complex and the application even less susceptible to risks.

With more scalability, the Agi application has adapted to the exponential growth of access demand without incident and with a high standard of performance for all customers, regardless of their device’s type and location.

Azion’s Edge Platform has also enabled Agi to improve compliance with regulations that protect sensitive information, making it an increasingly solid digital bank and keeping it in line with best cybersecurity practices.

“Our high satisfaction is due to the platform’s reliability and the little work it gives us to manage. We are very satisfied with the technical quality.”

Marcos Donner, CSO of Agi

About Agi

Agi is an omnichannel bank designed to promote digital and financial literacy. In recent years, this banking model has allowed them to forcefully expand their presence in the market in relation to traditional institutions. In order to provide an incredible experience for current and future customers, Agi has become a reference in financial technology. To further this goal, they have created AgiLab, a laboratory that develops innovative technologies using the ASA methodology (Agile Scale Agi), which is based on agile principles. Such dedication to creating its own technologies shows Agi’s evolutionary DNA, which continues to perfect its portfolio of products and services, channels and functionalities, with an eye toward solutions that help customers manage their financial life with freedom, security and tranquility.