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WITH PRODUCT ANNOUNCEMENTS RANGING FROM THE TRIVIAL TO THE BIZARRE, THE EDITOR
DISTILS THE ESSENCE OF THOSE THAT ARE OF INTEREST TO THE NETWORKING COMMUNITY
The argument for rapid and complete
patch management throughout the IT
estate is won and settled, and yet failure
to completely observe this best practice
still results in unnecessary downtime and
avoidable security compromise. The missing
element of the argument is that it cannot be
manually undertaken: it must be automated
if this battle is to be definitively won.
Strengthening its endpoint management
offering, ManageEngine has taken its Patch
Manager Plus to the cloud. The automated
patch management solution for Windows
and third-party applications enables
admins to automate the entire patch management
process, from patch detection to
deployment, without any infrastructure
investment. The company claims that this
solution will secure devices from multiple
vulnerabilities and cyberattacks at less than
a dollar, per computer, per month. This
cloud version of Patch Manager Plus will
reduce the effort of deploying patches and
allows IT teams to remotely patch servers,
desktops, laptops and virtual machines,
from anywhere in the world.
A strong patching capability will reduce
the attack surface for, among other things,
ransomware and phishing attacks, and
moving this into the cloud makes great
sense. So it is interesting to see a claim for
"the industry's first Secure Internet Gateway
(SIG) in the cloud" being made by
Dimension Data. The company says that it
has extended its protection from "all types
of malicious software with Cisco
Umbrella". Chris Panzeca, Senior Director,
Global Strategic Partner Sales at Cisco
said, "It is critical to have powerful security
tools that effectively support mobility and
cloud. With Cisco Umbrella, we are able
to proactively stop threats on any mobile
device, before they happen, with a secure
solution that is easily integrated within
existing infrastructure."
Securing mobile devices is moving up the
IT agenda, no doubt fuelled by various
reports predicting the growth of attacks on
this vector. Matthew Gyde, Group Executive
of Security at Dimension Data adds, "While
the mobile endpoint is a potential game
changer… it exposes mobile workers to
security risks and vulnerabilities. Mobile
users may not have the same level of security
as within the office perimeter, and are
more vulnerable to cyberattacks. With Cisco
Umbrella, threats beyond the network
perimeter can be blocked."
NETSCOUT Systems has announced new
security capabilities on its nGenius 5000
series packet flow switch, which is its open
compute-based packet broker platform.
With the Internet of Things (IoT) connecting
more and more devices and systems to networks,
the need for pervasive security visibility
becomes more critical, requiring scalability
and potentially increasing cost. The
nGenius 5000 packet flow switches provide
the smart and cost-effective data acquisition
layer needed for distributed networks. Built
on open compute-based hardware with
software-based packet broker functionality,
this product range enables economies of
scale and adds active security capabilities
so that organisations can address security
risks in both passive and active modes,
using a unified architecture. With support
for 100Gbps inline security, nGenius can
work with the most data-intensive inline
security applications.
Phil Higgins, CEO at Brookcourt Solutions
said, "What we find especially attractive
about the NETSCOUT approach is that it
supports all packet brokering capabilities
and applications on open compute-based
switches - including inline security. Unifying
security and network visibility onto a single
platform means substantial capex reduction
for our clients. Their teams can also collaborate
better thanks to the unified architecture
and common operating system."
Among the many trends emerging in the
networking, security and IT sector at the
moment is the move to software defined
assets and the thoughtful and intentional
integration of security as opposed to security
as an afterthought. In pursuit of this,
SD-WAN company Aryaka and Radware
have announced that they will work together
to deliver "best-in-class SD-WAN and
security to global enterprises". Aryaka uses
a multi-layered security approach and
ecosystem - a global private network and
an ecosystem of security partners, of which
Radware is now one.
Commenting on the announcement, Anna
Convery-Pelletier, Chief Marketing Officer
for Radware said, "Radware's Hybrid Cloud
Attack Mitigation helps to keep Aryaka's
networks available while protecting them
8 NETWORKcomputing JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2018 @NCMagAndAwards
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