ATN International Speeds Time to Remediation with Automox and Rapid7

ATN International (ATN) is a publicly traded telecommunications company headquartered in Beverly, MA. It operates digital wireless, wireline, terrestrial, and submarine fiber optic networks, serving traditionally underserved and geographically remote markets like the Southwestern U.S., Alaska, the U.S. Virgin Islands, and other Caribbean locations.

ATN International Objectives

As a telecommunications company, ATN specializes in operating communications infrastructure and services in underbuilt and underserved markets where there is demand and need for fast and reliable communications infrastructures. One of the contributors to ATN’s growth is strategic acquisitions to expand the communities it serves. With each acquisition, the IT operations team at ATN evaluates and compares the acquired environment to its own.

ATN discovered a newly acquired subsidiary used Rapid7 to detect vulnerabilities during one of those assessments. However, the company struggled with remediation, so Rapid7 suggested ATN look into Automox.

Previously, ATN used a platform that lacked third-party support.

“Patching can be easy, but when it comes to things like third-party support, Automox excels,” says Rich Casselberry, Vice President of IT Security.

Now, ATN begins its full cycle vulnerability management and remediation by querying reports from Rapid7 to discover CVEs. The team then patches and remediates unpatched vulnerabilities with Automox. With Automox and Rapid7, ATN can work faster — at scale — so the team can get ATN to zero exposures.

Rapid7 is the only endpoint-to-cloud vulnerability platform that empowers its customers to manage vulnerabilities, monitor for malicious behavior, investigate and shut down attacks, and automate their operations. While Rapid7 enables SecOps teams to find vulnerabilities, Automox allows ITOps to remediate them.

According to Casselberry, “Worklets are a standout feature.” Worklets are pre-built, plug-and-play bash or PowerShell automations that let you execute tasks on any endpoint – at scale. Casselberry says, “The Worklet team is phenomenal. ATN and the Automox Worklet team have an easy, open collaboration to ensure every situation is patched.” ATN no longer has to resort to manual patching on every device.

“The ability to quickly fix things that aren’t just patches is one of the things Automox is good at,” says Casselberry. ATN gains confidence in its new automated patching process. When Casselberry compares the previous patching process to the expedited timeline with Automox, he says, “Previously, we used to roll out a test patch and wait at least a week between each step. This resulted in a three to four-week patch process.”

With Automox, ATN can deploy test patches the minute they drop and scale rapidly from there.

“You can’t wait 30 days anymore. You can’t wait 20 days. You’ve got to remediate these things as quickly as possible,” says Casselberry. With Automox, ATN has changed its monthly patch cadence to a weekly process. The team can patch reliably and consistently making ATN’s environments more secure.

Leveraging the Automox and Rapid7 partnership, ATN can scan for vulnerabilities and remediate them instantly. Gone are the days of siloed knowledge and visibility, or leaving patches outstanding for weeks. Now, ATN boasts a dependable, full-cycle vulnerability management and remediation program.