Press Release

Significantly increases defense of sensitive data going into and out of its environment with full control and tracking to manage compliance risk

Kiteworks, which delivers data privacy and compliance for sensitive content communications through its Private Content Network (PCN), announced today that AVL, the world’s leading mobility technology company reimagining development, simulation, and testing in the automotive industry, is expanding its commitment to the Kiteworks Private Content Network (PCN) by upgrading its totemomail deployment to the Kiteworks Email Protection Gateway (EPG).

By upgrading from totemomail to Kiteworks EPG, AVL greatly improves its security and compliance posture. At the same time, all the capabilities within totemomail are retained in Kiteworks EPG. A longtime customer of both totemo and Kiteworks, AVL’s upgrade to Kiteworks EPG reduces costs by moving external components, such as web application firewalls (WAFs) and databases, inside the Kiteworks hardened virtual appliance, which requires no maintenance and are automatically tuned to the Kiteworks workload at scale. In addition, the update to the Kiteworks architecture eliminates the cost for hosting and maintaining the database.

The Kiteworks PCN is protected with a hardened virtual appliance that includes a built-in WAF, antivirus, intrusion detection system (IDS), artificial intelligence (AI)-enabled content anomaly detection, a secure database, and OS that deliver centralized email, file sharing, and other sensitive content communications. The hardened virtual appliance’s automatic update process, which is similar to updating a smartphone, removes the burden of timely patching of individual components with its attendant compatibility testing and tuning. Kiteworks does all this with a click!

Kiteworks’ hardened virtual appliance also disables all unnecessary services, shuts off unused ports and SSH access, configures defaults to the most secure posture, exposes only the web service tier to the internet, and secures and encrypts communication between clustered services.

The Kiteworks EPG automatically makes encryption features invisible to users, enabling them to use standard clients without plugins, training, or extra steps. This is a significant benefit for organizations like AVL, where email encryption can be a productivity drain while employee workarounds can ratchet up cyber and compliance risk. Now that AVL has upgraded to the Kiteworks PCN, the company has access to comprehensive digital rights management, secure file transfer, and other capabilities in the Kiteworks platform.

“We are a longtime customer of both Kiteworks and totemo,” said Heimo Kirsch, Department Manager IT-Infrastructure at AVL. “Our decision to migrate to the Kiteworks Private Content Network eliminates our need to purchase and maintain an additional database and OS for totemomail—which are built into the Kiteworks platform. This reduces our cost while improving our operational productivity. We also strengthen our security posture: Our database and OS are built into the Kiteworks Hardened Virtual Appliance that employs a defense-in-depth approach with WAF, antivirus, AI-enabled content anomaly detection, and advanced threat prevention.”

“AVL is a major player in the automotive and other business sectors with an expansive supply chain,” said Jonathan Yaron, CEO and Chairman of Kiteworks. “Their decision to upgrade to the Kiteworks Email Protection Gateway provides them with greater security, efficiency, and compliance. For other totemomail customers, our team has developed a toolkit that makes the upgrade to the Kiteworks Email Protection Gateway both easy and fast.”

“EPG encompasses Kiteworks’ vast experience in security wrapped with a well-tested email gateway technology that we’ve developed for over 200 multinational enterprises across Europe,” said Dario Perfettibile, the VP and GM of European Operations for Kiteworks and former CEO of totemo. “The result is a proven technology capability that is now fully integrated into the Kiteworks Private Content Network that greatly increases security for customers. The response of customers has been very positive, with substantial expansion capabilities for Email Protection Gateway in North America.”

For more information on the Kiteworks EPG, click here.

For more information on the Kiteworks Private Content Network, click here.

About Kiteworks

Kiteworks’ mission is to empower organizations to effectively manage risk in every send, share, receive, and save of sensitive content. The Kiteworks platform provides customers with a Private Content Network that delivers content governance, compliance, and protection. The platform unifies, tracks, controls, and secures sensitive content moving within, into, and out of their organization, significantly improving risk management and ensuring regulatory compliance on all sensitive content communications. Headquartered in Silicon Valley, Kiteworks protects over 100 million end users for over 3,650 global enterprises and government agencies.

About AVL

With more than 11,200 employees, AVL is one of the world’s leading mobility technology companies for development, simulation and testing in the automotive industry, and beyond. Drawing on its pioneering spirit, the company provides concepts, solutions and methodologies for a greener, safer and better world of mobility.

From ideation phase to serial production, the company covers vehicle architectures and platform solutions including the impact of new propulsion systems and energy carriers. As a global technology provider, AVL’s offerings range from simulation, virtualization and test automation for product development to ADAS/AD and vehicle software. The company combines state-of-the-art and highly scalable IT, software and technology solutions with its application know-how, thereby offering customers extensive tools in areas such as Big Data, Artificial Intelligence, Cybersecurity or Embedded Systems.

AVL’s passion is innovation. Together with an international network of experts at more than 90 locations and with 45 Tech and Engineering Centers worldwide, AVL is supporting customers in their mobility ambitions. In 2022, the company generated a turnover of 1.86 billion Euros, of which 11 % are invested in R&D activities to ensure continuous innovation. For more information, visit www.avl.com.

PR Contact

Diana Eisenberg
EMEA Marketing Director
diana.eisenberg@kiteworks.com