Bit9 Customer Wins Gartner Award for Use of Bit9 Parity Ritz Camera honored for achieving endpoint security using Bit9 Parity™

08.29.2008 – Waltham, MA – Bit9, the pioneer and leader in Enterprise Application Whitelisting, today announced that Ritz Camera Centers, Inc. was honored with the prestigious Gartner IT Security Innovation Award for its use of the Bit9 Parity whitelisting solution to secure its retail store kiosks.

Issued before a crowd of more than 1,600 leading IT and security experts at the Gartner IT Security Summit, Ritz Camera received the award for its world-class security initiative that locked-down the company’s in-store kiosks and point-of-sale computers from malware and unauthorized software. Ritz was recognized for its innovation in using application whitelisting and removing antivirus.

Ritz Camera is the largest photographic chain in the US, with 1,300 stores containing over 5,000 Windows-based retail store systems. With limited connectivity and lack of IT resources at each store, keeping antivirus signatures up-to-date was a challenge. In order to remain compliant with the Payment Card Industry’s Data Security Standard (PCI DSS), Ritz Camera was required to maintain antivirus software on its systems, or face costly fines for non-compliance.

Additionally, unauthorized software, such as video games and instant messaging programs, were being added to point-of-sale computers, creating security risks, system slowdowns and additional clean up costs.

When the PCI Council agreed that Bit9’s whitelisting solution fulfilled the antivirus requirement, Ritz Camera removed its antivirus software in favor of Bit9 Parity. Since the Parity implementation, Ritz Camera has enjoyed the benefits of a consistent security policy uniformly enforced across the company’s network of locations. Ritz Camera IT administrators can now automatically block the installation of any unauthorized software, and control the use of portable storage devices on store systems, drastically reducing man-hours spent on policy enforcement.

Most notably since implementing Bit9’s Parity solution, Ritz camera has had no security breaches from zero-day threats, and no instances of unauthorized software being loaded onto store systems.

“By overcoming a challenging security environment by breaking out of the antivirus cycle and proactively enforcing their company’s security policy, Ritz Camera serves as a role-model for retailers and enterprises alike,” said Tom Murphy, chief strategist, Bit9. “As the first retailer to use whitelisting to achieve PCI DSS compliance, the Ritz Camera case-study will no doubt be referred to by thousands of retailers who grapple with similar security and compliance concerns.”
Following the Gartner IT Security Summit, Bit9 announced a new version of its Parity solution designed specifically for POS environments. Bit9 Parity for Point-of-SaleTM comes with new templates and user interfaces designed specifically to aid retailers building whitelists and to ensure PCI compliancy. Parity for POS also leverages the Bit9 Global Software Registry™, a database of over six billion trusted files, which can be referred to by end-users creating a whitelist. Other Bit9 retail customers include Marks & Spencer. 7-11 Convenience Stores, and Jungle Jim’s International Food Market.

In a report published by Gartner on August 5, 2008, Gartner analysts Neil MacDonald and Michael A. Silver wrote, “Application control solutions address shortcomings in antivirus and other signature-based approaches and provide security and operational benefits.”*
For more information about application whitelisting, or to view a case study describing the Ritz Camera implementation in greater detail, visit: www.bit9.com.

About Bit9
Bit9 is the pioneer and leader in enterprise application whitelisting. The company’s patented solutions ensure only trusted and authorized applications are allowed to run, eliminating the risk caused by malicious, illegal and unauthorized software. Unlike traditional, reactive controls that try to scan and prevent the never-ending list of unauthorized software, Bit9 leverages the Bit9 Global Software Registry™ — the world’s largest database of software intelligence – to ensure only authorized applications can run, delivering the highest levels of desktop security, compliance, and manageability.

Bit9 customers include companies in a wide variety of industries, such as retail, financial services, healthcare, e-commerce, telecommunications, as well as government agencies. Founded in 2002, Bit9 is privately held and based in Waltham, Massachusetts. For more information, visit http://www.bit9.com or call 617.393.7400.

*Application Control Market Update, by Gartner analysts Neil MacDonald and Michael A. Silver, August 4, 2008

Media Contact:
Greg Sabey
Text 100 for Bit9, Inc. 617.399.4909 gregs@text100.com