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"McAfee has acquired Secure Computing, a global leader in enterprise security solutions. Secure Computing's award-winning
solutions, powered by TrustedSource technology, proactively protect mission-critical business applications
from Internet-borne threats. The acquisition of Secure Computing extends McAfee's position as the industry leader
in security risk management, with the most comprehensive and integrated endpoint, gateway, and hybrid
security offerings."
Source : McAfee Secure Computing
Security Solutions for Small Businesses and Remote Branch Offices
Unified Threat Management is also known as :
Unified Threat Management,
Unified Threat Management UTM,
UTM,
UTM Security,
McAfee Unified Threat Management Firewall,
Total Network Security,
Network Security Management,
Home Security Solutions,
Data Security Solutions,
Information Security Management System,
Small Business Internet Security Threats,
Small Business Network Threats It Security,
Security Threats Vulnerabilities,
Threats Business Security,
Mcafee Threat Center,
Internet-Borne Security Risks,
Internet-Borne Threats,
Tools Internet Security,
Security Threats Vulnerabilities,
Internet Security Risks ,
Internet Security Threats,
Threats Virus Protection,
Trojan Horse Threats.
Table of contents
- Abstract
- What do small and medium businesses need? A solution that is:
- Introduction to the small business market
- Security threats to small business
- What do small and mid-sized businesses need?
- Unified Threat Management (UTM) for small businesses saves money and
time
- Unified Threat Management (UTM) for small businesses improves security
- Is UTM just the next passing fad?
- SnapGear security appliances for small businesses and remote/branch
offices
- About SnagGear models
- Summary
Abstract
This paper discusses how small and mid-sized businesses, and
remote and branch offices (ROBOs) of larger organizations, face
increasing Internet-borne security risks, and what they need to significantly
increase their security infrastructure easily and affordably.
Introduction to the small business market
Small and mid-sized businesses (SMBs) have an
overwhelming burden today as network threats become more sophisticated and
potentially damaging. The potential for loss can be overwhelming, especially to
a small business with limited IT staff"or none at all.
In terms of sheer power, small businesses make up an enormous force in the
world. The US Small Business Administration estimates that in 2005, there were
25.8 million businesses in the United States. Of those, 99.9 percent were SMBs,
which the government defines as companies with fewer than 500 employees. In the
EU, the European Network for SME Research (ENSI) also reports 99.9 percent of EU
businesses as falling into the SMB category. Together, small and mid-sized
businesses contribute 60 percent of the world's GDP. To be sure, large
multinational enterprises are a force to be reckoned with, they are well-funded,
and they employ a lot of people. But taken together, the world's small and
mid-sized businesses still make up 70 percent of the world's employment, and
represent 49 percent of all IT spending. It's about time the security industry
delivers a solution made especially for them.
But the small business community has limitations. They want solutions that
are effective but inexpensive, and in many cases, they are reluctant or unable
to invest significant amounts of capital in IT infrastructure and security
solutions. Yet the business case is being made for security. Widely reported
security threats, vulnerabilities and hacks costing millions of dollars"and in
some cases, even putting companies out of business for good"have hit home. So
today, while small companies still have to be tight-fisted in the IT budget to
stay competitive, they recognize the need for good security. Their challenge is
to integrate that security into their infrastructure, and still not break the
bank.
Overall, spending trends indicate that smaller companies are getting
themselves ready to face the security threats that exist. Security spending in
the small business community was $10.5 billion in 2005, a 15 percent increase
over 2004. Forrester Research reports that SMB IT spending overall is
positive, with increased IT budgets. Top priorities for IT are reflected in
increases in spending, and half of all companies will be spending more on
security spending.
But even after committing more funds to the effort of security, small
businesses still face a dilemma. Even if they know what security they need when
connecting to the Internet, they still face a challenge finding security
solutions designed especially for them. It is certainly true that the security
industry has stepped up with a large selection of consumer-oriented security
products for home use and also makes available many high-end systems designed
for larger enterprises, but what's left for those in between?
Small office/home office (SOHO) and consumer
products are inadequate for small and mid-sized businesses and lack scalability.
Enterprise products are too costly and complex to manage. Many of the
non-consumer class security solutions that are offered to mid-sized businesses
today are merely scaled-down versions of enterprise class products.
Secure Computing®'s SnapGear® product line is designed specifically from the
ground up to help small and mid-sized businesses and offices meet their security
needs.
Security threats to small business
Even the smallest company today probably has Internet access, and very
likely, has broadband connectivity and networked computers. High-speed
connections are available at much lower cost than ever before, which offers
small businesses access to tools that were once limited to larger companies. But
as businesses enjoy more ubiquitous networking, and things like VPNs and
expanded remote access, security also becomes a greater issue for these smaller
companies.
External threats such as Trojans, viruses, worms, and spyware represent a
major threat to small businesses. These threats are for the most part not just
built to target specific large enterprises. These threats are instead built to
target and exploit known weaknesses in widely deployed applications like
Microsoft Internet Explorer, Windows desktops, Web servers of various flavors,
mail servers, and so on. They are then dropped into "the wild" seeking out weak
application software that nearly every business of every size uses. No one is
immune because for all practical purposes, everyone is a target. No matter if
you are large or small, in one industry versus another, it makes no difference
because most Trojans, viruses, worms, and spyware are completely blind to that
distinction. The days of security by obscurity believed in by the small business
owners for years are long gone. The common assumption that small businesses are
too small and unknown to be targeted by an attack is simply not true in today's
threat environment.
Research from AMI-Partners shows that security spending among small and
mid-sized businesses is expected to grow more than 25 percent a year in North
America, Europe, and Asia-Pacific, primarily due to growth in anti-virus
solutions, content filtering, firewalls, and VPNs. These businesses are also
showing an increasing desire for security appliances that offer integrated
functionality. Without this integrated functionality, small businesses remain
under tremendous time and money pressure, and would be less likely to implement
extra services like Web filtering"which leaves a dangerous door open to
opportunistic Web sites that have been poisoned with active code that can
infiltrate the network.
What do small and mid-sized businesses need?
The general trend is what was previously reserved to the enterprise
eventually trickles down to the small business as costs diminish and technology
gets proven. So the security countermeasures that large enterprises were using
three or four years ago are now beginning to become more widely available to
small businesses at significantly lower cost.
Small business owners are often characterized as late adopters of IT
technology and so they typically avoid experimenting with unproven, leading edge
solutions. But, once technology is proven and mainstream, and the price has
declined to the point where it is affordable for a smaller company on a budget,
small business owners invest in solutions just like their big company counter
parts.
We have mentioned proven, mainstream technology and affordability as key to
the SMB market. What else is important?
The smaller the business, the more worry-free and close-to-zero
administration the security solution needs to be. The goal is for the solutions
to be as plug-and-play, and as reliable and easy-to-use as a common kitchen
appliance like your home's microwave oven.
Considering that most small businesses don't have enough time, money, or
people to apply to the complex task of network security, it is common sense that
a comprehensive pre-packaged security solution works the best. Such a
multi-function solution is installed as one unified system; not three, four,
five, or more individual systems.
What do the small and medium businesses need? A solution that is:
- Mainstream and highly reliable
- Affordable
- Pre-packaged with multiple functions
- Easy to maintain
- Scalable (as the business grows)
- The ease-of-use of a home appliance
Unified Threat Management (UTM) for small businesses saves money and time
If there was ever a security solution meant for small business, it's the
concept of Unified Threat Management (UTM). The
prospect of managing multiple, separate security devices and software solutions,
each with a different management interface and each with a different
authentication mechanism, is overwhelming. UTM for larger enterprises delivers
key advantages, but for small businesses, UTM can make the difference between
good security and no security.
According to a recent IDC study, UTM now occupies 12 percent of the security
appliance market, and is growing quickly"first being officially tracked in
September of 2004. Secure Computing is a leader in the UTM marketplace, having
been among the first to introduce a unified concept of security (including
anti-virus) in an appliance offering. UTM appliances have also started catching
on in the enterprise marketplace, as larger companies choose to enjoy the
benefits of unified management over best of breed security brought together in a
common appliance. At the same time, the SMB segment is fully and
enthusiastically embracing UTM appliances to take advantage of the excellent
cost savings and low administrative burden they represent.
The best-of-class UTM appliances combine multiple, proven security functions
in one hardware appliance, and support administration for all of these functions
with one common interface. A UTM appliance typically includes a firewall,
intrusion prevention software, gateway antivirus protection, Web content
filtering for controlling employees' use of the Web, and e-mail spam filtering.
It should also have a hardened operating system so the appliance itself can't be
hacked"which could result in the entire network being thrown wide open to or
completely shut off from the Internet
The biggest attraction of a UTM appliance is its cost saving multi-function
approach. A departmental manager can quickly set up an office with secure
Internet access, wired or wireless, by simply deploying one hardware device.
Such an approach saves significant time and effort as well. It's definitely a
security concept whose time has come.
Unified Threat Management (UTM) for small business improves security
Combining multiple security technologies not only lowers the cost of security
but improves overall perimeter security as well. From a staffing perspective,
small businesses have fewer people to get the job done. The most highly skilled
(and highly paid) IT personnel tend to move towards larger corporations and
outsourcing contractors. Small and midsize businesses have smaller, and
sometimes less experienced IT staffs. They have more to do, and fewer people and
resources to do it with. The prospect of having to manage multiple, separate
security products, each with a different interface to learn and understand, is a
challenge for even the largest corporations; it can actually introduce a real
security risk for SMBs with limited time, money, and people. Misconfiguration of
security products is one of the greatest vulnerabilities that any company of any
size faces. One key focus for IT security in small businesses and branch offices
then must be to avoid configuration mistakes by minimizing the security product
learning curve. By automating and unifying security policy development and
enforcement, the security management burden can be minimized within the IT
department. This allows the limited number of IT staffers available to focus
their time and energy on networking and applications support.
The good news is that mature and reliable security functions like firewall,
IPS, anti-virus, anti-spam, and Web content filtering are being integrated into
many of the leading UTM devices, so selecting a UTM device does not mean having
to sacrifice on the quality of each individual functional area. This means the
small business community is more able to afford high quality security in a
cost-effective bundle. A good number of SMB companies are increasingly deploying
UTM appliances in part due to regulatory mandates, and even for those businesses
that are not under the jurisdiction of those mandates, awareness has never been
greater.
Consolidation of security functions onto single appliances (Unified Threat
Management) has the greatest single impact on combining cost reduction with good
effective security for the SMB market.
Is UTM just the next passing fad?
Gartner research has noted a key trend in IT security" that in the years to
come, organizations will spend less on security, but be more secure. According
to the research group, 8 in 10 emerging security threats required the deployment
of tactical, best-of-breed solutions in 2005; but only 1 in 10 security threats
will require it by 2010 due to: (1) increases in the efficiency of security
systems, and (2) the continuing emergence of unified threat management. This
consolidation of security functions will have a major impact on cost reduction
over time, because it requires fewer separate products to be purchased, and it
requires less manpower to operate it. Additionally, the unified interfaces and
ease of operation that comes with UTM means that you don't have to be a
highly-paid IT security expert just to run the day-today security functions of
your company.
Increasing the efficiency of security means that organizations must take on a
greater focus on process, rather than individual products"and that the security
team must be able to let go of the routine elements of threat protection so that
they can focus more on strategy and on addressing new threats as they occur. As
previously discussed, small businesses face the same barrage of daily threats as
do big businesses, but with smaller staffs and smaller budgets. A large
enterprise may have a large IT staff and a multi-million dollar security budget.
For some small businesses, the IT security function may be managed by only a
small section of the IT department, or in some cases, security may just be one
of many functions of the IT manager or network administrator who is already
overburdened with many other tasks. Budgets may be strapped and managers are
often tempted to cut corners in areas like security. But the risks remain the
same. A single serious setback could make a difference between business survival
and out of business, no matter how large or small your company may be.
New UTM-based appliances allow for the efficient, secure, departmental
networks. And while the centralized IT department certainly must maintain a role
in its implementation and ongoing management, individual, department-level
managers are capable of operating the system's routine functions, creating
reports, and even setting up the devices themselves. A good set of policies and
a chain of command, with a system in place for escalating any problems that
occur and responses needed, will create an effective partnership between the
central IT department and each individual business unit within the company.
SnapGear' security appliances for small businesses and remote/branch
offices
The sub-$1,000 security appliance market, targeted at the SMB community,
didn't even exist a few years ago. Today, there are only a handful of solid
products in this category that deliver enterprise-class security on a small
business budget. SnapGear delivers a complete small office network-in-a-box
"plus" UTM security. SnapGear's unique additional capabilities beyond UTM
security makes it perfect for the smallest business to instantly set up a
networked office directly connected to the Internet. It includes many
easy-to-use networking features that are usually only available to larger
companies who purchase multiple networking software and hardware products.
SnapGear as an appliance is much like the mature and reliable "kitchen
microwave oven" discussed earlier in this paper, with no moving parts to break,
highly reliable lash memory, and a hardened feature-rich Linux-based OS.
For a true small office business, SnapGear is potentially the only networking
appliance you will need. SnapGear model 565 (for example) includes full
TCP/IP routing to build a LAN, DHCP services for all LAN devices, central file
and printer sharing for the office network, and wireless connectivity between
all machines (no wires to pull!). Unlike other single purpose security devices,
SnapGear goes beyond security and also eliminates the need to maintain and
connect multiple devices to create a small office network of desktop machines.
And of course, all models can also be drop into almost any existing wired/routed
network as well.
If you don't want to run all the UTM features, SnapGear is highly versatile
and can be deployed as a stand alone firewall, as just a VPN gateway (IPSec,
PPTP and L2TP), an anti-virus gateway, and outbound Web filtering gateway.
SnapGear is the only networking device you need to network your office PCs,
connect securely to the Internet, connect to a corporate WAN, and handle remote
access VPN needs. There are many ways to use SnapGear, which is why it is used
inside of so many other appliance products from other leading companies that
have taken advantage of our unique SnapGear OEM program.
SnapGear comes with all this rich capability included in the base product
with one exception. To achieve a complete level of content protection available,
SnapGear comes with an optional subscription to Secure Computing Corporation's
Webwasher® URL filtering solution, which allows you to control, monitor
and report on how employees use the Web. Webwasher helps your business in so
many ways (e.g., increased productivity, reduced liability, and bandwidth
conservation), but in addition it blocks employee access to Web sites well known
to contain malware and deploy spyware.
Centralized management of multiple UTM devices can be complex for any
business with multiple locations. For example, SnapGear is widely deployed in
multi-store retail chains and restaurant chains. This is entirely manageable
with SnapGear using the optional Global Command Center' management console.
Global Command Center allows you to manage hundreds of distributed SnapGear
security appliances centrally.
About SnapGear models
Available in six different models, SnapGear appliance prices start at just
$249, low enough for even the tightest security budget.
For very small offices and remote SOHO workers, the SG300 is highly compact,
and even includes a 4-port switch for easy LAN connection. For larger offices,
the SG560 includes hardware encryption acceleration for superior VPN
performance, while the SG565 extends the SG560's capabilities to wireless
networks. The SG580 includes firewall/intrusion prevention, VPN, gateway
anti-virus and Web filtering, and is suitable for both narrowband and broadband
connections. The SG580 features multiple enterprise-level features, including
five security zones, link failover, load balancing and a Web proxy cache for
greater performance. The SG635 plug-in card offloads the firewall, VPN and IDS
processing from the host computer to provide for high performance. The flagship
SG710 appliance is well suited for branch offices of larger organizations, as
well as SME central offices, and it can securely connect hundreds of mobile and
remote employees.
Summary
Small and mid-sized businesses face as high a risk in cyber-space as
enterprises"the risks know no distinction as to an organization's size.
Historically, cost and complexity were barriers to small businesses finding
appropriate security solutions that were right for them. With limited budgets
and staff, these businesses need solutions specifically designed for them and
their unique needs. The full line of SnapGear security appliances from Secure
Computing provide such a security solution for these businesses.