Is It Time To Consolidate Systems?

In the world of HiFi, there has always been the debate around individual components verses a combined system. The former, site selecting the optimum individual unit for a specific role, is best, it will ensure the ultimate results in HiFi quality. It can, however, be complex to marry together, and other units, such as a graphic equaliser to balance the sound, may be required.  

In the end, you have a system which may have good sound, but do you really appreciate it and have the time to tweak it, when you play different genres of music?
 
This conundrum gave birth to the integrated HiFi unit. They were uniform systems that stacked neatly on top of each other, had pre-set buttons for sound effects (pop, rock, theatre etc.) and had reasonable sound quality for the average room.
 
The data security world is in the same position as the component HiFi was, back in the day. The current reality is, that rather than reducing complexity, too many businesses are managing multiple point products, incompatible dashboards, and struggling to integrate new systems with existing defences.

This applies to all size of business but is especially hard for a mid-size enterprise, where resources are stretched and the skills needed to truly understand the information that is being presented, simply not there.

A new solution, identified by Gartner, is Security Service Edge (SSE) which is emerging to reduce complexity and improve detection and response, all in one integrated system, much like in the HiFi world.  According to Gartner, “SSE secures access to the web, private applications, and usage of cloud services. Capabilities include access control, threat protection, data security, security monitoring and acceptable use control, enforced by network-based and API-based integration”.
 
The SSE approach relieves the pressure on IT teams by integrating security from a single cloud-based platform, vital for all businesses but especially those in the mid-sized arena.
 
As Gartner notes, “vendors are increasingly divided into ‘platform’ and ‘portfolio’ camps, with the former integrating tools to make a whole that’s greater than the sum of the parts, and the latter packaging products with little integration. “As the platforms shift to the cloud for management, analysis and even delivery, the ability to leverage the shared responsibility model for security brings enormous benefits to the business”.
 
When looking for a solution, Gartner suggests:

• That differentiating between these approaches is key to the efficiency of the suite.

• Look at how integrated the consoles are for the management and monitoring of the consolidated platform.

• Assess how security elements can be reused without being redefined or can apply across multiple areas seamlessly.   

An autonomous, integrated security platform has the capacity to tackle evolving threats, right across an organisation’s attack surface, round-the-clock and, at lightning speed.  Operating a single platform means all your security functions can share relevant data in a single, transparent dashboard, improving speed and accuracy of response and reporting, while helping to mitigate against cross-channel attacks and eliminate complexity.
 
SSE Platforms Have Some Key Benefits:

Enables Investment in the right security solutions at the right time:   Unlike combined HiFi systems modern SSE platforms allow you to build part by part, allowing you to consider whether you can consolidate defences and connect email, web and cloud security with identity and context – so there are no weak spots to target.

Eradicate complexity:    Instead of managing multiple point products and ploughing time or effort into supporting legacy solutions like VPNs, MPLS and WAF deployments, embrace cloud native security that ensure updates can be applied without the need for manual intervention.

Create your own rules:   Ensure you can pre-define what can act autonomously and what cannot. Create your own rules based on thousands of attack scenarios for machine speed response to enhance protection.

Gain visibility of threats across your entire ecosystem:   Stop cross-channel attacks from occurring with shared attack intelligence. Leverage in-built threat intelligence feeds to proactively stop attacks even entering the kill-chain.

Autonomous integration:   Enable cyber defences to work together, untouched by human hand, with full API provisioning and management.
 
The SSE approach enables organisations to move away from the more expensive and time-consuming approach of running separate solutions in silos. Instead, it gives companies an integrated approach that is simpler to use, easier to manage and, reduces the need for manual intervention.
 
Crucially, a platform approach enables digital business, giving users the freedom to access the applications and data they need, regardless of device or location, whilst providing visibility of threats and the tools to remove them to the IT team, to make better use their time.
 
Colin Tankard is Managing Director of Digital Pathways

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