U Is For UTM

In response to this article, we have been saying the precise same thing for 13 years now.  The idea for UTM has always been that an effective response against blended threats can only come from blended security; and that there is absolutely no way to blend security when you are dealing with 10 different devices ~ most likely originating from 7 different vendors, with not a single one of them integrated with each other.

We must be clear from the onset ~ there is no such thing as “an email attack”, or “a web attack”.  Attacks come in many forms, via the network, through emails, from the web; a sound network defense must be able to understand all that the attack is trying to do, and stop it with any and all the possible tools available.

A word of caution though; UTM or not, a protection device that is not properly configured is, simply put, useless.  Yes, useless, no matter how good the technology is.  Security is not, and never will be, just a device.

The market will grow, but if all we are doing is replacing our set of firewall/IPS/VPN/email scanning/web filtering with one device, yet still leaving them poorly configured, we have resolved nothing.

Zero.

As the UTM market grows, it is increasingly crucial that the managed security services market grows as well, to ensure such devices are adequately configured by expert hands who understand risks and best practices, and can go a long way towards ensuring the successful protection of a network.

Is your network safe?