How BIMA went from zero endpoint visibility to full control with Tanium

Not having visibility into your endpoints can be downright scary. What software is running, and is it up to date? Is everything patched? Are there any open vulnerabilities?

That was the situation at BIMA, a London-based provider of mobile-delivered healthcare and insurance to emerging markets. Founded in 2010, BIMA today has some 25 million active users, mainly in Asia and Africa.

But until recently, BIMA also had zero visibility into its endpoints. That included laptops used by BIMA’s 3,000+ remote employees across 12 countries. Without visibility into those endpoints, BIMA simply didn’t know where the vulnerabilities might lie. Worse, it had no way of finding out.

Watch this video with Mitch Islin, BIMA’s global head of technology operations, explaining how he gained control of his IT environment with Tanium.

New job, new visibility

To solve this and other related issues, BIMA created a new position, global head of technology operations. The job was filled in mid-2021 by Mitch Islin. His first assignment: gain control of BIMA’s systems in time for the company’s next audit and risk committee (ARC) meeting, which was just three months away.

For help, Islin asked Tanium for a proof-of-concept (PoC) test. Unlike most PoCs, which are limited to a subset of systems, this one was deployed to BIMA’s full base of machines. With the hard deadline approaching fast, Islin didn’t have time for anything less.

The BIMA team also opted for Tanium’s cloud-based option. It’s a logical choice since the company operates from shared office spaces and has no IT infrastructure of its own.

“Tanium on the cloud is easier for us, and less hassle,” Islin says. “Tanium spins it up for us, and then we can access it from anywhere. That saves us time and money and adds flexibility.”

With Tanium’s help, Islin met his ARC meeting deadline. What’s more, Islin says, the ARC team was “blown away” by Tanium’s capabilities.

Critical vulnerabilities

For Islin and his internal team, BIMA’s results from the Tanium PoC were eye-opening. Tanium discovered more than 85,000 critical vulnerabilities, putting BIMA at serious risk.

“We knew it was going to be bad,” Islin says. “But we didn’t know it would be this bad.”

Next, Islin and his team used Tanium to eliminate more than 75,000 of those vulnerabilities, shrinking the total list by over 90%. The remainder will soon be history, too.

“Nothing else could have done that,” Islin says. “The more we use Tanium, the more impressed we are.”

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You can learn more about BIMA’s success with the Tanium Cloud by reading the full case study.