Do not set and forget network security

Antony Byford says it's time for resellers to refocus on network security and add greater value

Security is vital, as everyone knows. As threats become more sophisticated and targeted, no one can afford to be complacent about protecting their systems and data from viruses, denial of service attacks, identity theft and all the other dangers
that abound.

There is still a tendency on the part of users - and on the part of resellers as well - to set and forget the security and let security vendors do the updating and upgrading required. It is easy to be far too relaxed about this. Complacency can be dangerous.

Things change - not only the nature of the threats, but the way that people access the network. More users are connecting remotely and more people are using Wi-Fi whenever they can. As the network grows, holes in the security setup can appear.

For all these reasons - and sheer common sense - it makes sense to review the network security setup every now and then.

It should certainly be formally reviewed at least every year or two. Point security products will continue to work as long as the licence agreement has been renewed in time, but they won't necessarily work together in a co-ordinated way. They might use more resources than is necessary and be more time-consuming and cumbersome for the customer to manage.

Unified threat management (UTM) and firewall appliances will also continue to work for the length of their life span, as long as the firmware patches are kept up to date - and for that, you
may need a licence or subscription, which adds to the ongoing cost.

If the switch fabric has been upgraded and traffic loads have increased, UTM appliances will struggle. As well as becoming insecure, they may increase network latency. Upgrading to the latest models can enhance performance.

You may be able to save the customer money on maintenance and support subscriptions as not all vendors charge for regular firmware updates. It is worth finding out exactly what the UTM offers, looking beyond the capital cost to the cost of subscriptions over the full product life cycle.

For all these reasons, persuading customers that they should revise and reconsider their network security setup could pave the way for you to add more value for them and sell even more products and services.
The attacks on networks have become more advanced and targeted.

As well as the viruses that can cause annoying delays and outages, there is the potential for individual identity theft and corporate data loss. These can be genuinely scary and things no organisation wants to experience.
What's happening on networks is changing too and there is a good deal more to protect on most of them.

There are more remote, mobile and wireless users and associations, more video and voice traffic, more encrypted and business-critical data, more online services accessed and more transactions conducted.
All this can have a wide-ranging impact on the way you need to manage security.

There is usually a need to put added protection in place at a number of strategic points on the network, and to ensure that as well as anti-malware, there is sufficient protection against intrusion and suspicious activity, and appropriate and secure capabilities for remote access.

Security remains a big opportunity for the whole channel. Gartner sized the enterprise firewall market at $7.7bn (£4.6bn) last year and has estimated that this market will see a compounded annual growth rate of 10 per cent through to 2016.

And that is just one segment of the market - if you add UTMs to the equation and look at the SMB space as well, the picture is considerably bigger. Organisations of all sizes need to stay on top of their digital security.

It is well worth reviewing network security for your customers.

As well as delivering added value, it's a great way to open up further discussions about the wider network infrastructure that will almost certainly lead to additional sales and services opportunities for your business. Customers will really appreciate it too. It's certainly preferable to taking a "set and forget" approach.

Antony Byford is UK and Ireland head of channel at ZyXel Communications