Since 2005, companies have been using NetRefer’s performance marketing software to fully automate their affiliate programs. From enrollment through customer relationship management (CRM), tracking, finance and rewards management and payments, NetRefer’s Unified Performance Marketing Platform streamlines the businesses processes and reduces the price of affiliate program management.
Growing Challenges
Over the past 12 years, NetRefer’s platform has been used in the gaming, foreign, exchange, finance and option trading markets.
While NetRefer provided DDoS protection in its hosting environment, it was limited in its ability to scrub traffic and it lacked a web application firewall (WAF). In addition, NetRefer didn’t provide the cross-platform visibility that allowed its IT team to detect and fix problems early.
Because of this, NetRefer decided to transition to a cloud-based service that provided a secure, always-on system that was easy to use and reduced downtime. The team focused efforts on finding a reliable website protection service that would keep the site available for customers and provide a good user experience.
Christian Cutajar, IT manager for NetRefer said, “Being able to identify threats and block them on the fly is critical. By strengthening our security, we can show our clients that their data is safe.”
A Web Application Firewall Solution
Visibility, always a vital component in any security solution, was one of the features lacking in NetRefer’s old system. Without it, the company did not have an integrated view of its various environments and know where were at risk. Other upgrades were needed too, including a scalable system, fast and reliable content delivery and top-notch customer support.
Once the IT team at NetRefer identified the upgrades their system needed, they began looking for a website protection solution. They consulted a research firm’s industry report that provided valuable and relevant information on Incapsula WAF (now Imperva Web Application Firewall) that met its requirements of being easy to use, able to keep downtime to a minimum, and was fully scalable, fast and reliable.
“Securing our core services and avoiding system hijacking was absolutely critical,” explained Cutajar. “Investing in a solution that gives you and your customers peace of mind was a must. And we found that with Incapsula.”
Immediate Results
Since deploying Incapsula, NetRefer has been able to route traffic at the domain name system (DNS) level instead of dealing with multiple devices. This allowed the company to focus on a platform as a service (PaaS) solution long term.
More importantly, however, the always-on DDoS mitigation service has kept NetRefer’s systems safe and secure. It also gave the team the increased visibility they needed to address security threats and malicious activity before they became serious problems.
After onboarding Incapsula, NetRefer’s improved security options include:
- Increased visibility: NetRefer benefits from a granular view of events and traffic across all environments. By leveraging advanced cached bandwidth capabilities, the company’s site has increased performance by 50 percent.
- 24/7 DDoS mitigation: Incapsula significantly helped improve security and reduced downtime by identifying attacks early.
- Threat alerts: NetRefer is now able to detect unusual activity on its website, including SQL injection requests on clients’ front-end systems and XSS on specific page parameters.
- Superior support: Comprehensive reporting provides insight into all aspects of NetRefer’s systems. The company has also reduced its annual expenditure, and now has access to a team of professionals for consultation and security advice.
For more details, read our case study.
Try Imperva for Free
Protect your business for 30 days on Imperva.
