Executive Brief on Enterprise Next-Generation Firewalls

Transcription

1 Executive Brief on Enterprise Next-Generation Firewalls How security technology can reduce costs, improve compliance and increase employee productivity Enterprise Next-Generation Firewalls protect businesses and government agencies from data breaches that can cost millions of dollars.1 They can also help organizations save hundreds of thousands of dollars in costs, improve regulatory compliance, control the use of social media technologies and prevent employees from wasting time on the Web. This document explains the business benefits of enterprise Next-Generation Firewalls from a management perspective. It also looks at how Dell SonicWALL helped one large organization realize those benefits. 1 The NetDiligence Cyber Liability & Data Breach Insurance Claims Study and the Ponemon Institute 2011 Cost of a Data Breach Reports calculate the average cost of a major data breach at $3.7 million and $5.5 million, respectively.

2 TABLE OF CONTENTS 1. Cost Savings Through Converged Security Reduced Communications Costs Better Security and Compliance Controlling Applications Improved Employee Productivity How Dell SonicWALL Next-Generation Firewalls Provide These Benefits Conclusion

3 1. Cost Savings Through Converged Security Security Applications: Traditional firewalls have very limited capabilities to detect cyberattacks, so most companies supplement them with other security solutions, such as intrusion prevention appliances and gateway antivirus products. However, it is costly to buy, configure and manage separate security products. Sometimes these products are so complicated that each requires a specialist. What Is a Next-Generation Firewall? A Next-Generation Firewall is a converged security product that combines firewall packet filtering with additional security technologies, including intrusion prevention, gateway anti-malware, SSL decryption, application control, content and URL filtering, and virtual private networks. Next-Generation Firewalls combine advanced firewall, intrusion prevention, Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) decryption, application control, gateway antivirus and content filtering capabilities in one integrated solution. This single engine approach greatly reduces procurement and management costs. It also includes features to identify and manage communications from individual applications, such as cloud-based CRM, accounting and HR software, social media and video streaming. Hardware: Most firewall and intrusion prevention products run on midsize servers or appliances with finite capacity. Because of this, large offices may require several appliances. In contrast, one enterprise Next-Generation Firewall can protect a large corporate headquarters or data center. Replacing multiple servers and appliances reduces hardware, management, maintenance, cooling and power costs. 2. Reduced Communications Costs Many enterprises rely on networks of costly private T1 and T3 lines to provide secure communications with remote locations. But secure communications can be delivered at a much lower cost using encrypted virtual private network (VPN) connections over public Internet links. Many organizations that upgrade their firewalls and perimeter security save thousands of dollars by replacing T1 and T3 lines with high-volume, point-to-point VPN connections. 3. Better Security and Compliance Just as automakers deliver cars with better mileage and more safety features with each new model year, every year IT security vendors provide more advanced capabilities to detect and block cyberattacks. That s a good thing, because every year cybercriminals devise more devious and damaging attacks. Failure to deploy the latest security technology is likely to result in more data breaches, more downtime of crucial systems, and more violations of government and industry regulations. 3

4 Next-Generation Firewalls provide key security capabilities not found in traditional firewalls, including intrusion prevention, malware detection and the ability to inspect encrypted SSL traffic. The IT security staff can respond to incidents much faster using a single management console and reporting system. And security update subscription services provide current threat information so appliances can protect against the newest types of malware and intrusions. Next-Generation Firewalls also help enterprises demonstrate compliance with government and industry regulations, including the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DSS) requirement to build and maintain a secure network and implement strong access control measures, and the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) requirement to implement policies and procedures to prevent, detect, contain and correct security violations. Finally, an enterprise can use content filtering and application intelligence features to enforce compliance with its own Internet acceptable-use policies. 4. Controlling Applications Social media, Web 2.0 apps and streaming media are a double-edged sword: They let enterprises interact with customers and the outside world, but they can also bring a network to its knees and slow critical business applications. Next-Generation Firewalls prevent this with application control and bandwidth management capabilities. Administrators can allocate network bandwidth to important business applications such as order processing, inventory management and customer support, and limit bandwidth for nonessential applications like Facebook, chat software, YouTube and Netflix. These capabilities ensure that mission-critical business applications always have fast, consistent network performance without interference from bandwidth-intensive non-business applications. 5. Improved Employee Productivity Next-Generation Firewalls improve productivity in several ways. They block malware and attacks that would otherwise infect PCs and disable computer servers. They can allocate bandwidth to important business applications. And they can prevent employees from wasting hundreds of hours on non-business activities. With content and URL filtering, administrators can: p Prevent employees from visiting sites dedicated to shopping, sports, gaming, pornography and other nefarious topics that have no business purpose and often violate company acceptable-use policies. 4

5 p Restrict the use of social media applications to employees who have a business reason to use them for example, limiting access to Facebook and Twitter to the marketing department and blocking Internet job boards from all but the human resources staff. p Granularly control the use of Web applications so they don t affect productivity for example, allowing access to Facebook for business purposes but blocking access to games hosted through Facebook. How Dell SonicWALL Next-Generation Firewalls Provide These Benefits Consolidation: Dell SonicWALL Next-Generation Firewalls integrate firewall, intrusion prevention, gateway antivirus, SSL decryption, application control and content filtering capabilities. Through a unique multiprocessor architecture and patented Reassembly-Free Deep Packet Inspection technology, a single appliance can handle very large offices and data centers. These capabilities allow enterprises to consolidate security software and hardware, providing major reductions in procurement, maintenance and management costs. Just how effective are the Dell SonicWALL systems? In 2012, NSS Labs, an independent research and analysis organization, conducted extensive tests designed to measure the cost-effectiveness and performance of seven leading Next-Generation Firewall products. The Dell SonicWALL appliance was one of only three that earned NSS Labs highest rating of Recommended, and of those three, it had the best block rate and the best price per protected-mbps. 2 Reduced Communications Costs: Dell SonicWALL Next-Generation Firewalls and related products have helped customers achieve dramatic reductions in communications costs. By replacing T1 lines, PSC LLC cut networking costs in half and is saving $600,000 annually. Aaron s Inc. is saving $14 million per year with Dell SonicWALL systems, mostly from network consolidation.3 Better Security and Compliance: Dell SonicWALL Next-Generation Firewalls offer a wide range of advanced gateway security features, including deep packet inspection, intrusion prevention, gateway antivirus, SSL decryption, application control and content filtering. Controlling Applications: Application control, bandwidth management and application traffic visualization capabilities allow administrators to allocate bandwidth to mission-critical applications and departments, throttle the bandwidth of low-priority applications, block non-business Web applications, and schedule access to Web applications for non-business hours. These measures ensure that critical business applications get the best network performance when it is needed most. 5 1 NSS Labs 2012 Next-Generation Firewall Security Value Map 2 PSC LLC case study and Aaron s testimonial video.

6 Improved Employee Productivity: Content filtering lets administrators block or monitor access to 56 categories of websites. The single-pass inspection engine recognizes more than 5,000 applications, so organizations can granularly control the use of social media and other applications by function, user group and time period. Many of these business benefits can be seen at Hall County Schools, where the administrative staff supports 4,800 teachers and staff members and 26,000 students in Hall County, Georgia. By deploying a Dell SonicWALL Next-Generation Firewall and other Dell SonicWALL equipment, the district was able to consolidate appliances and three security point solutions. The security infrastructure now supports 6,000 to 9,000 employee and student devices simultaneously, including Windows, Windows Mobile, Mac OS, ios and Android devices. Administrators are able to apply more than 100 policies related to applications and groups. For example, they can throttle application traffic for YouTube and Twitter, allocate more bandwidth for high schools than for elementary schools and restrict Facebook access to staff members. According to CJ Daab, technology support coordinator for the Hall County school district, Dell SonicWALL saved us up to 50% in costs in consolidating appliance costs and in reducing overhead of networks administration. 4 Conclusion Enterprise Next-Generation Firewalls include very sophisticated security technology that can save organizations millions of dollars by protecting them against malware and data breaches. But they also provide business benefits that any executive can love. Enterprises can: p Reduce capital and operating expenses by consolidating security solutions and cutting communications costs. p Demonstrate to auditors and regulators a commitment to providing a secure network and protecting confidential information. p Improve employee productivity by ensuring that social media and non-business applications don t interfere with critical business processes, and by controlling access to non-business websites. Learn more about Enterprise Next-Generation Firewalls at Network_Security.html. 4 6 Hall County Schools future-proofs IT inf 4 rastructure and saves up to 50% in costs