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| Network Security: Establishing a Sustainable Security Ecosystem |
| Sunday, 18 November 2012 | |
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Forward-thinking enterprises need to focus on a sustainable approach to security and risk management designed to address the new wave of vulnerabilities. The global enterprise security market is poised to explode, with employees replacing desktops and laptops with smartphones and tablets, and IT departments scrambling to connect and protect these devices. Consumerization and proliferation of smartphones, iPads, netbooks, and other mobile devices connected 24X7 to the Internet are driving enterprises to reassess how critical infrastructure in headquarters, branch offices, remote offices, and data centers is protected from threat. Successful selling security solutions in this space is about to allow the IT department to connect all devices they need to connect and provide a consistent level of security policy and enforcement for all these devices. Changing Security Posture Enterprises are moving toward buying and deploying integrated security solutions, including firewalls with mail and gateway antivirus, IPS, DLP, mobile device security, and application control, instead of standalone solutions, which is driving up the overall network security market. The integrated appliance sales are outgrowing standalone content security gateways sales. The network security market encompassing firewall, unified threat management, intrusion detection, and prevention and virtual private network products is expected to witness a faster growth over hardware. Software-based solutions are predicted to make up over 26 percent of the market by 2014. Security-as-a-service (SaaS) and other hosted security services are expanding product market sales. Any vendor in the content security market without an SaaS offering is missing out on the fastest growing segment. The Indian network security market is primarily dominated by Cisco, Fortinet, CheckPoint, McAfee, Juniper, and Dell (SonicWall). IBM, Websense, Symantec, Nevales, ZyXel, RadWare, R&M, and WatchGuard have also marked an impressive presence in this market. The ever-growing sophistication of malware creators - including their skill at evading detection - puts unprecedented pressure on organizations to protect their information and their employees from web-based threats. Adding to this pressure is workers' reliance on the web to do their jobs and grow the business, no matter where they are working or what devices they are using. Businesses fear the impact of poor threat protection and of unmonitored and unregulated web access. Web trends such as the growth of social media and user-generated content increase these risks. For malware creators, social networks and their users offer rich opportunities to launch threats, particularly those that involve social engineering and exploiting the trust of a target. Because these threats are triggered by the actions of unsuspecting web users, they are not as easily blocked at the points at which traffic enters the network. BYOD revolution has further complicated the task of securing an organization against threats. Workers access the web from desktop computers in their offices, from laptops in airports, and from smartphones and tablets at home and on the road, which requires security professionals to secure traffic that is beyond their network perimeter. These challenges add up to demands on security professionals to manage the varied pressures on their data centers. They need to protect and manage web traffic to and from users and their devices; they need to maintain high levels of performance and data availability; they need to migrate enterprise applications and online business activity to the web; and they need to invest in cost-effective, long-term solutions for web security. Security for enterprise is not just about malware and firewalls, threats are now more persistent, sophisticated, and unpredictable than ever before. Forward-thinking enterprises realize that they need to focus on a sustainable approach to security and risk management. It needs to be designed to address the new wave of vulnerabilities that prevail as a result of increasing trends in IT consumerization, mobility, social media, cloud computing, cyber crime, and nation-state attacks. Enterprises need to remain alert and ready to respond to associated risks, so as to avoid compliance issues, financial loss, and reputation damage. Every business decision has an inherent risk; it is essential to understand and make decisions based on the cost and potential value of that risk. CISOs no longer lie awake at night worrying just about defending perimeters and the latest worm outbreak of their organizations. For employees, there is no longer a hard line between work and home devices as they bring personal devices to work and take work devices home. This presents challenges in terms of controlling network access, identity, and application permissions. With the dangers of nation-state attacks, the unpredictability of hacktivism, and the burgeoning market that surrounds cyber criminals, every enterprise needs to take a defensive posture and assume it to be under attack. Furthermore, unlike simple viruses and malware of the past, most of the damaging cyber attacks are low and slow. Multiple points of entry are plotted slowly over time, avoiding individual detection while collectively posing a serious threat of surreptitious damage. Over the past few years, the IT industry has been abuzz over cloud computing. While many cloud services offer attractive benefits, they also leverage complex technologies that have security ramifications. Most cloud providers rely on intricate, custom-made web applications, or leverage virtualization to provide scalability and multi-tenancy. Though these are innovative technologies, they also pose dire risks when implemented incorrectly, causing systems to no longer be secure. Organized criminals are expected to target cloud services and significantly breach the cloud provider. Cloud service providers need to recognize risk and add premium security to their offerings. CIOs see benefits of leveraging standardized applications, reduced maintenance, pay-per-use models, and reduced CapEx from cloud computing. Not only CIOs need to maintain things such as compliance, privacy, and transaction integrity, but must also extend these across the service supply chain that comprises the cloud services being used. Virtualization is no longer a new technology on the block. Enterprises have leveraged it in production environments for years; most IT professionals have become familiar with it and have at least experimented with it as a tool. As with other emerging technologies, as virtualization matures, its usage increases among smaller companies and organizations. Many small- and mid-size enterprise IT professionals still do not comprehend potential security ramifications of poorly implemented virtual environments. As a lack of security know-how and increased reliance on virtualization, risk of data loss dramatically increases. Virtualization security solutions are forecasted to witness considerable rise among smaller and medium businesses owing to their increased reliance on this technology. Problems with Traditional Approach to Security Over the years, as systems, software, and the Internet have evolved, the approach to information security has followed right along. In most enterprises, each new project or program includes some measure of security, often added at the tail end of implementation. This has given rise to today's security market, which has literally thousands of security vendors, technologies, and solutions. There is security for the network, for servers and storage, for data and content, for identity and access management, for encryption, and for application security among others. Security has traditionally been a project afterthought; most enterprises currently support a wide array of unrelated products and uncoordinated processes. Point solutions provide point data, actions, and reports; however, they can only address specific point objectives and decisions. This traditional approach to accumulating one-off security technology has left the enterprise with a variety of security point solutions that address only a sampling of its point security vulnerabilities. Furthermore, security is scattered across silos, business units, and functional areas - including IT, accounting, legal, HR, and the security office itself. Compounding this situation is the maze of compliance needs and regulations - both industry-specific and cross-industry - all of which increase the burden for the CISO. The lack of coordination between people, process, and technology results in significant blind spots for an enterprise. Clearly, continuing to pile on more software, more processes, and more stopgap measures is not a viable solution. Threats have become more common, more complex, and more costly. With several issues rising from the reliance on a traditional approach to security, many enterprises have a patchwork of processes and technologies that simply do not work well together. Enterprises are looking at deploying network security capabilities that cover intrusion prevention, firewall, web security, e-mail security, data protection, and network access control for every portion of the enterprise, from vulnerable endpoints to the heart of the network. Enterprises need better threat intelligence by way of combined malware experts and researchers in the areas of e-mail, web, and network threats. Organization are willing to invest in tightly integrated security capabilities that span complete content and data lifecycle management. It is the time to rethink security in a broader context and to bring everyone in enterprise together - across silos and functional roles - so that one can protect the information capital running through all business processes. The challenge is to create an integrated ecosystem that is fully prepared to anticipate and prevent threats, wherever and whenever they affect the enterprise. Experts Speak New Challenges Emerging in BYOD Environment
On new breed of security challenges The survey commissioned on bring your own device (BYOD) by Fortinet has found that BYOD environment lacks many of the traditional security controls that organizations have relied on to secure their data, leaving gaps in their data and device protection strategy. The survey findings state that both network managers and senior management are ultimately responsible for the strategic decision about the degree to which the business embraces BYOD. For financial organizations, this decision becomes even more critical. Larger organizations will have mature IT strategies and policies in place. But smaller financial businesses that might not have such well-developed strategies should be concerned about the attitude of the employees. On expansion plans for 2013-14 In FY 2011-12, Fortinet India has built up two strong vertical practices - telco and the government - following the adoption of a vertical sales strategy approach. These two verticals represent strong business opportunities with increased pressure on regulations on one hand and the advent of 3G and WiMAX technologies on the other. The company will pursue the efforts initiated in expanding its channel ecosystem across India. The objective is to have, by end of this year, 300 partners - established security players in their geographical areas of operations - to represent Fortinet in various regions of India, and in priority the top five cities. These partners will help capture a larger share of the fast-growing Indian network security market, which, according to Frost & Sullivan, is expected to grow at a CAGR of 15.3 percent between 2011 and 2017."
Content and threat classification in today's computing environment is extremely challenging. The amount of data both inside and outside the network is enormous, and analyzing it requires not only tremendous computational horsepower, but also state-of-the-art analysis tools to make intelligent classification and policy decisions to protect from threats and theft of sensitive data. Compliance also poses a challenge to vendors in the security market, as different countries have different compliance practices and vendors not only be updated about them but also customize their solutions and products to each country. Another challenge faced by vendors is the constantly changing threat environment. Vendors have to keep abreast of the latest technological advancements and threats that affect the enterprise." Surendra Singh
Physical security systems for network cabling offer protection against technical deficiencies, human errors, and willful interference. Effective protection against all the three causes is available with the right technology through a three-level physical security system for copper and fiber. It comprises color coding, mechanical coding, and physical locking. Color coding includes unambiguous marking of all network components, connection cables, and connectors using a system of color coding. The patch cord marked with a particular color patches into the corresponding color-coded port. Mechanical coding makes incorrect connections a thing of past and prevents undefined states in the network. This is all the more important since the RJ45 connector is ubiquitous. Unauthorized intervention can simply be prevented by mechanical locking. The best protection against human errors and interference is provided by a system that prevents unintended or intended tampering. It allows only authorized personnel with a key to the lock to access and modify the patching of cables. Physical security of the network provides an additional protection against unintended or unauthorized interference with connections." Shailendra Trivedi
Growing awareness; adoption of virtualization, cloud-based services, WiMAX, and 3G; consolidation of network security on cloud offerings; increased adoption of network security on collaboration technologies; improved real-time monitoring of networks through cloud model; and increasing need for regulatory compliance are few of the major drivers for network security market in India in 2012. Protecting data in a world where systems are changing rapidly and information flows freely introduces a whole new set of process and technology challenges, reinforced by enhanced scrutiny by compliance and regulatory bodies. As there is drastic improvement in the way we communicate and share data, cyber criminals are expected to hook themselves into these systems to plug in their nasty malicious code. Owing to the rapidly changing Internet threat scenario, network security vendors have to be very prompt in coming up with updated solutions, which can combat with the emerging unpredictable threats." Ravishankar
Concerns also include data leakage, unauthorized access to corporate resources, and the spread of malware infections from mobile devices to company network. Securing endpoints is essential to protect assets and maintain solid business reputation. Intrusion prevention is another issue that needs to be dealt with preventing malware from entering the network. Additionally, network protection is not just about preventing malware but also ensuring clean pipes for transmission of data in order to drive greater efficiencies in network usage." Shantanu Ghosh Vice President and Managing Director,India Product Operations,Symantec
More devices in different form factors to access more applications are being extended to more levels in the organization. The pressure to allow these devices on the network necessarily puts organizations at risk of being out of compliance with the regulations, like those meant to protect electronic patient information in a healthcare environment, industry guidance (like PCI), and corporate policies on which they have collectively spent billions to both comply and prove that they comply. Social media is used extensively by consumers and business users for immediate data sharing and communication. A massive amount of personal information floating on the Internet coupled with lack of user awareness of the perils of this medium makes it easier for cyber crooks to plan social media based attacks. Next-generation IPS, network visibility, network data loss prevention, and forensics are gaining more importance to counter APT threats. It has been observed that traditional first-generation IPS is not adequate in protecting against latest threats. It has also been witnessed network access control coming of age, with 802.1x becoming the de facto standard of deployment. Another interesting trend is that of merging IPS and firewall on a common platform (NGFW), which is substantially different from deploying a UTM solution. In the cloud space, security-as-a-service for email and web filtering is witnessing an increase in demand." Srinivasa Boggaram "The Indian security market has grown consistently over the last couple of years as organizations and CIOs realize the importance of securing their data against internal and external threats. More and more SMBs as well as large enterprises have been driving the adoption of security solutions as they look toward expanding their operations across geographies both, physically and virtually. Several factors including the increasing adoption of cloud, virtualization, mobile technologies, video conferencing solutions, as well as BYOD in the enterprise have been driving the adoption of security solutions by using the power of IP network to manage physical security applications in 2012. The challenges faced by the CSOs and CTOs are rising tremendously as they grapple with demands from employees to create a highly flexible and mobile network while ensuring security across multiple access points. An increasing number of individual users want to use their own devices including smart phones (iPhone, Android, Mac) at work and they have to be offered secure yet flexible access solutions. What organizations have realized from this trend is that the concept of a perimeter in an enterprise is fast receding. This has prompted most vendors to offer security solutions based on borderless network architectures. Getting unmanaged devices on the network and ensuring data integrity once they leave the network will be one of the biggest challenges IT will have to solve, with tablets." Riyaz Tambe
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"Cyber criminal activities are becoming more advanced and pervasive. With latest technologies at their disposal, cyber criminals and hackers are looking beyond individual users to target large enterprises. Intellectual property, financial details, credit card transactions, and customer lists have all become lucrative assets frequently targeted by data-stealing criminals. Organizations are becoming more aware about the constantly changing threat landscape and the need for better security to combat data theft. With this awareness, organizations now know they need to consider more unified and real-time security options than traditional anti-virus and firewall products. Government regulations are also helping to drive the market, forcing enterprises to consider security as a key issue in their annual plans.
"Physical security is the most obvious form of security for shielding the network against any unintended or unauthorized interference. Such security is essential for enterprises, which depend on their networks for business. The same applies to conference rooms, individual workplaces where staff frequently come and go, hotel lobbies, or departmental stores with data connections in outlying areas where cash registers are connected and where people must be prevented from using the network to gain access to sensitive enterprise information.
"With the increasing demand for business requirements, companies are scaling up their networks with advanced technologies such as virtualization and cloud-based services for better management of resources. Therefore, the addition of these technologies will expand their network infrastructure and hence the complexity in managing networks increases. Hence, to secure their network from increasing complex security threats, companies are adopting security solutions for these technologies.
"The volume of online transactions has increased significantly, and sensitive information exchanged over corporate networks is expected to be one of the key drivers of the network security market. Demands on enterprise security are evolving with employees bringing their smartphones and tablets into the corporate environment. The advent of cloud computing and 24X7 business operations, where data is accessed remotely, has created the need to secure data in motion. Information needs to be protected as it travels across corporate networks and outside it, while devices need security regardless of whether they are on or off the network.
"Consumerization of technology, enterprise mobility, and emergence of social media are the new attack vectors. Employees expecting to receive corporate services on their mobile devices are significantly expanding the corporate perimeter. This could result into data leakage or data intrusion leading to direct access to one's network.| < Prev | Next > |
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