continued from page 18
plete, holistic approach to Internet security,”
says Jim Gildea, director of North American
marketing at Grisoft Inc., a provider of Internet security software based in Millburn, N.J.
“When integrated, there is a single point of
management and updating, something that’s
key for the SMB market because their IT departments typically have a lot on their plates.”
For security VAR Great Lakes Networks
LLC, in Rochester, N. Y., multifunction UTM
devices have proved popular with customers,
particularly those that don’t have the staff to
maintain point solutions. “UTMs are also good
solutions for customers that don’t have security policies,” says Allen Scalise, Great Lakes
president. “UTMs help cover the policy
ground by delivering updates and blocking
threats before they get to the network.”
On the other hand, there is a potential
shortcoming with integrated solutions. Since
they are packed with multiple functions, they
can compromise the performance of computers and applications. “Some products have
become so overloaded, they are slowing down
PCs and hitting end users with pop-ups and
license updates,” says Gildea.
There’s a constant battle to balance protection with convenience. Companies need to
have adequate security measures, but they are
not willing to compromise performance to get
them. “Security should really be unobtrusive
to the end user,” Gildea says.
IN SECURIT Y, ONE SIZE
DOES NOT FIT ALL SAYS
NICK PEGLEY, VICE PRESIDENT OF MARKE TING,
AND EDI TH GONG, MARKETING SERVICES MANAGER
AT ALL COVERED, A
TECHNOLOGY SERVICES
PROVIDER IN
REDWOOD CIT Y, CALIF.
Email continued from page 18
maintenance without disrupting application
availability at customer sites.
And there’s another advantage to offering
managed email security solutions. “Email filtering and antivirus are intensive but not strategic,”
says Mike Rothman, president of the analyst firm
Security Incite. In other words, they are perfect
candidates for customers to hand over to someone else if they are wary about outsourcing mis-sion-critical functions.
But stopping incoming messages that might
create havoc on a network is only one part of
email security. The other part has to do with
keeping proprietary or confidential information
from getting out, and this represents another opportunity for managed services. Security products that can prevent data leakage by identifying
where confidential information is stored and how
it’s leaving the confines of a network is a burgeoning business.
“Companies have spent their attention protecting the network, and many are confident in
perimeter security,” says Steve Roop, vice president of marketing at Vontu Inc., a provider of data
loss prevention software in San Francisco. “Many
are now looking to protect their data.”
Such data leakage issues don’t only happen
via email. USB devices, unsecured laptops, and
stolen hard disks are also sources of data leakage. Yet Roop says 55 percent of customers say
email is the primary mode through which data
leakage occurs.
In January, Websense Inc., a San Diego company with a legacy of Web and content filtering
products, got in the data leakage business when
it acquired PortAuthority Technologies. “The content protection business is an important component of Internet security,” says Steve Kelley,
director of products at Websense.
