Tree of Life

The Problem:

Aging infrastructure put Tree of Life’s data at risk

David Galvan, the Director of IT at Tree of Life oversees network infrastructure and cybersecurity. Faced with aging infrastructure and an increasingly global organization, David understood that protecting data against loss and attack were top priorities. He was concerned that media files could become lost or unavailable, or that sensitive information could be compromised by hackers.

“Part of my role is to make sure that users have the infrastructure and horsepower they need, and that their information can be distributed globally,” said David. “It is also my role to protect them, because unfortunately there are bad people out there.” 

Network infrastructure, while critical for enabling their mission, opened the door to new vulnerabilities. David describes visiting other churches that were the recent victims of a ransomware attack and witnessing the consequences firsthand.

“Seeing those attacks was a driving force for me–that churches were hit by ransomware and their IT team wasn’t prepared for it. They even thought it was a joke at first, but when they realized what they were dealing with the entire team was up for hours trying to get everything back. It was an all hands on deck situation to stop the breach and determine if sensitive data was compromised.”

Other security solutions weren't doing what was required

Tree of Life was in the process of updating critical systems and moving important workloads to the cloud. Data is everywhere, and there are several critical focus areas in the IT department. 

“I was very concerned about visibility,” said David. “Everyone in the outside world could see us, but I kept discovering things like switches that I didn’t know were there. I didn’t have the topology, common ground, or connectivity I needed, so my focus has been getting everything up to snuff and cloud based. That’s the direction I’m pushing us.” 

Tree of Life uses a server to manage media archives and lesson plans that houses several terabytes of data. If the server experienced issues, staff wouldn’t be able to access data which could lead to a myriad of problems. 

“I knew that with my luck, every time I tried to move a server I might lose some stuff,” laughed David. “Some servers had never been backed up, so had we been hit [by a cyber attack] we could have lost several terabytes of data.”

In addition to the media archives and lesson plans, there are several other datasets that David Galvin is charged with protecting. Donations and giving is a core part of the Tree of Life mission, and technology makes it easy for congregants and the world at large to make charitable donations. They provide options to donate through their website, via a custom mobile application, or through a “text to give” approach. David had cybersecurity tools in place, but felt they could do better. 

“I was using a program previously for anti-virus and malware protection, but I felt it was overpriced and wasn’t doing what I needed.” David then laughed while adding, “as much as I trust the cloud, I don’t trust the cloud. It’s just one of those things.”