The Role of Automation in Optimising Network Performance and Security

Author: Fran Howarth, Senior Analyst, Bloor Research
Published: July 13, 2017

The world of network security is changing rapidly. Ever more sophisticated threats are leading to an increase in security breaches and are creating a greater sense of vulnerability among organisations of all sizes and in all industrial sectors. At the same time, technology developments are being made at a dizzying pace, changing the network environment considerably. These include the rise of mobility and cloud computing, large-scale virtualisation, the advent of software defined networking, the rise of microsegmentation of networks and the hyper connected work of the Internet of Things. Yet, organisations are facing an inability to hire and retain skilled security professionals on a worldwide basis, meaning that resources are increasingly stretched. This is called “The Complexity Gap”.

About The Complexity Gap

• The fast pace of technology change demands that error-prone processes involved in network security be automated.
• Firewalls are not only a critical part of the network security architecture, but are growing in criticality as networks expand in scope and complexity.
• It is particularly problematic to manage network systems such as firewalls, owing to the need to keep configurations in the desired state, which requires tweaking of rules on a regular basis to ensure that they are maintained in line with policy.
• An intelligent network security platform will provide the automation and analysis capabilities needed to tame the sprawl and enable security practitioners to make better informed decisions based on context and actionable intelligence.
• Centralised management is essential for such a platform in order to provide visibility and control over the network and to provide a central policy enforcement point.
• The platform should provide advanced analytics and security intelligence capabilities to enable better decision making and to help in the ability to prevent, detect and proactively respond to threats.

Download the eBook to learn more

This eBook describes how the Complexity Gap has come about and how it is impacting organisations. It then describes how automation of network security functions will aid organisations in reducing risk and the technology components that are required for doing so.