Managing cloud services security with OpenDNS
Enhanced security settings are on offer to MSPs. Jessica Meek reports
A clearer understanding of advanced security layers may be needed across the managed services provider (MSP) community.
Cloud security firm OpenDNS has introduced capabilities that enable MSPs to automate certain tasks associated with deploying and managing security across their customer base.
The San Francisco, US firm said its centralised settings introduce multiple controls to allow MSPs to apply and manage security policy settings across their customer base in a matter of seconds.
Tasks such as creating branded block pages, customising security settings and web filtering bundles in the Umbrella MSP console will be possible with the new settings, OpenDNS said.
The firm also claimed that the enhanced capabilities offer an "intuitive interface and user experience" that can be learned in minutes and does not require training or certification.
Speaking to Channelnomics US, OpenDNS MSP product manager Dima Kumets said there is still a lack of understanding of the importance of added security layers among some MSPs.
He pointed out that it's important to ensure all MSPs understand this need.
"A lot of MSPs already understand the value of having advanced security layers, whereas some are still very much thinking of anti-virus and firewall as the security stack," he said.
"It's really about talking through the security issues that they are having and getting them to understand that signature-based security has been not effective for many years and ours is an additive."
Paul Rehovsky, IT services manager of MSP Loffler Companies, told Channelnomics that Loffler is still deploying firewalls, anit-virus and anti-malware and sees Open DNS's enhanced settings as another product in the stack to protect against security issues.
"I'm sure there are products out there that can do similar types of thing via a firewall feature or similar, but for us the fact of the matter is that it has offloaded from the client's devices so we don't have to worry about performance, we don't have to worry about updates to their individual device or things like that, which means it's a much more straightforward process for us to be confident that we are protecting not only the people in the office, but the people that are outside the office."
According to OpenDNS, the "Centralized Settings" updated features will enable MSPs to:
● Efficiently deploy and manage OpenDNS's predictive security in a multi-tenant dashboard;
● Create custom-tailored standards, such as vertical or service class specific policies, and apply them to many customers;
● Apply policy changes across multiple customers, streamlining policy management and eliminating repetitive tasks;
● Define a default policy for all new customers, making on-boarding fast and efficient; and
● View policy across all customers in a single pane of glass and fix any inconsistencies in seconds.