FEATURE : SDN
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Check Point Software Technologies is the largest network cybersecurity vendor globally , providing industry-leading solutions and protecting customers from cyberattacks with an unmatched catch rate of malware and other types of threats .
“ The migration of corporate assets and applications to the cloud has led to fifthgeneration multi-vector cyberattacks threatening all businesses and Check Point provides cloud-delivered security services to prevent these types of attack ,” said Jason Min , Head of Business and Corporate Development , Check Point Software Technologies . “ By integrating our cloud security platform with Aruba ’ s SD-Branch solution , Check Point is providing businesses with Gen V advanced threat prevention solutions , preventing all types of attacks on the cloud , endpoints , remote offices and mobile devices .”
Speaking of cyberattacks on a network , enterprises and organisations face the global challenge of protecting their networks against cybercrime . Oliver Cantor , Assistant Director of Product Strategy at Verizon , believes that CIOs should be looking towards a software-defined perimeter solution .
The biggest security challenge facing organisations today is stopping the major cyberattacks , DDoS , financial theft , ransomware and connection hijacking , to name just a few , from infiltrating their businesses . Historically , enterprises deployed a traditional ‘ physical ’ perimeter security solution to protect against external threats to their critical applications . However , advances in digital technology , such as mobile devices and applications , have significantly stretched these traditional boundaries , moving them to breaking point . In order to provide more capacity and flexibility to utilise digital advances , most organisations have now entered into the virtual environment , placing business critical systems in the public cloud for easier access , way beyond their well-defined physical boundaries .
Often businesses are unaware that traditional Internet protocols have inadequate security to protect these virtual environments , as they were not designed to do so . Many have between 20 – 100 individual security solutions in place
COMPANIES NEED TO TAKE MATTERS INTO THEIR OWN HANDS AND
PROTECT THE ASSETS THEY REGARD AS MOST VALUABLE TO THEIR
BUSINESS SUCCESS . already and the prospect of new security solutions to combat cybercrime is often too overwhelming to even be considered . Organisations are simply burying their heads in the sand until the inevitable cyberattack occurs , but by then it is often too late to protect the most valuable assets in a company .
The answer is to bake security into the network layer in the very beginning to help protect against potential breaches of business-critical data . The latest network evolution of software defined networks ( SDN ), a move away from legacy multiprotocol label switching ( MPLS ) networks , has provided the opportunity to ensure that security can do just that . Companies such as Verizon are embedding security into the very foundations of new software defined networks , ensuring that it is never just an ‘ add-on ’ or overlooked . Put simply , networks and security should work strategically hand in hand .
The ever-changing network perimeter
Now tools like software-defined perimeter ( SDP ) leverage a ‘ non-discoverability ’ approach to enable secure access to devices and applications across a public cloud . This means that an organisation , such as a government department , financial institution etc . can automatically hide application resources and devices from would-be attackers . The solution enables them to see the attacks in real time and provides them with the opportunity to secure critical resources and stop the attacks in their tracks .
Whereas a traditional enterprise network creates an internal network separated from the outside world by a fixed perimeter consisting of a series of firewall functions that block external users from coming in , but allow internal users to get out , SDP is a scalable Software-as-a-Service ( SaaS ) solution , which provides pre-authenticated , context-aware , secure access to enterprise applications within a perimeter that is constantly changing .
In simple language , the network and apps are like an exclusive private club where everyone wants to go . This network perimeter security solution serves as the bouncer , controlling who can get in and what they can do once they ’ re inside .
It checks user IDs and devices at the network ‘ door ’, then ‘ escorts ’ them inside for another level of approval / verification before they can join the ‘ party ’ to use apps and resources .
Hackers can ’ t attack what they can ’ t see
Cybercriminal activity is increasing and instead of making propriety and business critical information visible on the web via IP addresses that can be Googled and then infiltrated , companies need to take matters into their own hands and protect the assets they regard as most valuable to their business success .
In today ’ s digital age , they can no longer rely on the security solutions that protected the rigid perimeters of the past .
It ’ s time for a change , a rethink of how security safeguards information in the digital world – making it invisible to the prying criminal eye , but accessible to the trusted few who rely on accessing it . SDP is the answer . •
50 INTELLIGENTCIO www . intelligentcio . com