Case Study: Alon USA locks down IBM i and prevents downtime with Fortra's StandGuard Anti‑Virus

Alon USA Locks Down the IFS with Powertech Antivirus for IBM i

Alon USA, a Dallas‑headquartered energy refiner and retailer operating across Texas, Louisiana and California with 300+ convenience stores, discovered a critical security gap when a virus infected the IBM i Integrated File System (IFS) and knocked out shared drives shortly after a new IT director raised concerns about the platform’s lack of protection. The company had long assumed IBM i was immune, but the outbreak caused costly downtime and highlighted the need to secure the server side as well as PCs.

Alon deployed PowerTech’s StandGuard Anti‑Virus, a native IBM i solution using the McAfee engine to scan and clean the IFS and automate protection. The implementation closed the security hole, stopped further infections, automated virus scanning to improve operations, and prevented future downtime—giving the team confidence as they move forward with projects like migrating to JD Edwards EnterpriseOne.

Alon USA

Ron Smith

IT Director