Covelli Enterprises Implements Imperva Web Application Firewall to Monitor and Secure Web Servers

REDWOOD SHORES, Calif., July 13, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- Imperva, a pioneer and leader of a new category of data security solutions for high-value business data in the data center, today announced that Covelli Enterprises, a restaurant management service provider and the largest franchisee of Panera Breads and O'Charley's restaurants, has deployed SecureSphere to protect its Web servers from hackers. SecureSphere's integrated Web Application Firewall (WAF) and ThreatRadar, an add-on security service that provides automatic defense against automated attacks, delivers total visibility into data access while blocking malicious traffic.

Covelli Enterprises maintains a low profile online, directing users to the Panera Breads and O'Charley's Web sites. However, IP addresses from foreign countries were consistently attempting to breach its Web servers to access sensitive data, including the company's Web-based email, company reports and personally identifiable information.

"Installing a Web application firewall was the most logical step to protect our Web applications since it secures the application and creates an audit trail," said Anthony Biegecki, CISO, Covelli Enterprises. "We selected Imperva because they offer a full data security approach. The importance of having a Web application firewall communicate with the SQL database server is imperative to stop data theft."

SecureSphere provides Covelli Enterprises with visibility into malicious and non-malicious traffic. ThreatRadar stops malicious users before they can attack the Web servers. Together, the comprehensive solution is able to monitor Web application traffic, block Web-based attacks, stop traffic from known malicious IP addresses, prevent unauthorized access to Web servers and redirect attacks.

"Only Imperva could accommodate Covelli's specific business and technical requirements," said Biegecki. "The icing on the cake is that Imperva is incredibly cost-effective. It's the most comprehensive way to implement a smart data security program."

About Covelli Enterprises

Covelli Enterprises is an entity formed to develop and manage the franchise rights of Panera Bread bakery-cafes in the Northeast Ohio, Western Pennsylvania, West Virginia and West Palm Beach, FL. With close to 200 bakery-cafes in these markets, Covelli Enterprises is the single largest franchisee of Panera Bread, LLC and is the 4th largest restaurant franchisee in the nation. Covelli Enterprises is headquartered in Warren, Ohio, and currently employs over 20,000 people. Since the first cafes were opened, over 800 additional jobs have been created within the corporation with an estimated 70 managerial promotions, as well. The expansion of the corporation continues with its recent expansion into the Columbus, Ohio market, acquiring 20 existing bakery-cafes in December 2010. Plans are in place to open another 20 or more in the area over the next year.

About Imperva

Imperva is a pioneer and leader of a new category of data security solutions for high-value business data in the data center. With more than 1,300 end-user customers and thousands of organizations protected through cloud-based deployments, Imperva's customers include leading enterprises, government organizations, and managed service providers who rely on Imperva to prevent sensitive data theft from hackers and insiders. The award-winning Imperva SecureSphere identifies and secures high-value data across file systems, web applications and databases. For more information, visit www.imperva.com , follow us on Twitter or visit our blog.

Forward Looking Statements

Certain statements contained in this press release may be forward-looking statements made pursuant to the safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995.  Any such statements that are not purely historical are forward-looking statements, including, without limitation, statements regarding trends or projections related to our business and our expectations, beliefs, intentions or strategies regarding the future.  These statements are subject to known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors, which may cause our actual results to differ materially from those implied by the forward-looking statements.  We undertake no obligation to update any of the forward-looking statements contained herein after the date of this presentation, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.

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SOURCE Imperva