Feature Story

Enterprise-Class Protection Even Small Businesses Can Afford

Complacency -- it's the biggest problem in security today, says Michael Gazeley, managing director of Network Box Corp., LTD (www.networkboxusa.com), a global provider of managed security services, including for more than 150 financial institutions in the United States alone. As Gazeley sees it, if your company's management isn't making security a priority, you as an IT manager probably aren't either, thus making security a business-continuity time bomb ready to explode at any moment.

"In the world today, the Internet gateway is the primary business vector, yet the level of care, attention, and reporting on security matters is almost nonexistent," Gazeley says. While companies go to great lengths to monitor visitors to their physical offices, he says, "businesses seem unwilling to spend either time or money on gateway security, yet the Internet gateway is switched on 24/7 and represents one of the greatest threats to their business."

Launched 11 years ago, Network Box eases the burden and complexity of managing and monitoring Internet security protection via its Managed Security Services. The company's approach relies on a global network of SOCs (Security Operation Centers) that oversee about 4,000 devices combined globally. Security-trained analysts at each SOC provide 24/7/365 real-time monitoring of more than 1,500 data networks tied to Network Box UTM (unified threat management) devices seated at companies' Internet gateway entry points. The 24/7 monitoring approach enables Network Box to detect emerging threats in real time and create protection against them quickly.

Unique to Network Box's security protection, which has won the company more than 40 awards globally, is the use of patented PUSH technology that automatically pushes antivirus signatures, security patches, and software updates from the SOCs to customer devices within 45 seconds of becoming available.

According to Pierluigi Stella, Network Box USA's CTO, a more traditional approach would involve IT monitoring multiple physical devices for Internet threats and then adding patches, applying signatures, etc. Instead, Network Box's managed security approach lets even a one-person operation implement affordable enterprise-class security, monitoring, and management abilities that would probably otherwise be cost-prohibitive. Further, the devices are constructed of industrial-grade material without Network Box passing the costs off to customers. Network Box offers UTM devices in S-, M-, and E-Series models tailored specifically for branch offices, medium-sized businesses, and enterprises, respectively.

Armed For Battle

Network Box operates NOCs (Network Operation Centers) in more than a dozen countries, including a U.S.-based NOC in Houston. The SOCs play host to the company's Security Response Team. Anyone can view in real time the Internet security threats the company is monitoring at the Security Response Web site (response.network
-box.com). The company is also a MAPP (Microsoft Active Protections Program) member, meaning it receives security vulnerability data from the Microsoft Security Response Center prior to Microsoft's normal monthly security updates.

The company's Managed Security Services package includes threat analysis, bandwidth management, license management, change control, load balancing, and security consulting capabilities. Its UTM+ protection includes firewall, IDP, VPN, antimalware, antispam, and content filtering protection that are combined with the PUSH updates and 24/7 real-time monitoring and management.

Where cybersecurity as a whole is concerned, Gazeley views it as an arms race, a key battleground of which is the antivirus systems charged with blocking attacks from zero-day malware writers. One of several technologies Network Box employs to combat malware is Z-Scan, a real-time, cloud-based antivirus solution the company says can react to zero-day malware 4,200 times faster than standard antivirus systems, thus blocking viruses in as little as three seconds from when they're launched. Network Box also incorporates Kaspersky antivirus protection.

Recently, the Tolly Group IT security testing lab cited Network Box as being 100% effective in testing that was conducted using Tolly's Extended WildList of malware and samples from AV-Test, including virus, worm, rootkit, Trojan, and backdoor samples tested across HTTP, POP3, and SMTP protocols.

Z-Scan is also found in Network Box's antispam protection, which includes more than two dozen engines and 12-plus techniques in use. The result is an email gateway that provides a 99.4% detection rate and nearly no false-positives, the company says. Network Box's firewall integrates 18 engines and two IDPS modules to essentially form a next-gen firewall capable of inspecting network traffic at the application level and blocking malware with zero latency. Network Box's content filtering protection gives customers access to Google Safe Browsing, WebSense's content filtering engine with 54 categories, and Network Box's own S-Scan filtering engine covering 16 Web content categories.

Threats Managed

As Gazeley says, the consequences of making Internet security less than a top priority can lead to the theft of vital business ideas, downtime that results in missed deadlines, and expensive lawsuits related to confidential data losses. With Network Box's Managed Security Services in place, however, companies of nearly any size can acquire real-time monitoring and management to ensure that such situations don't occur.
"Protection needs to be comprehensive, properly configured, fully updated in real time, expertly managed, and carefully monitored," Gazeley says. "Management has a choice: They can deal with these issues before their organization becomes victimized, or they can wait until afterward. My advice to everyone is to get protected right now. Why be a victim?

Contact: Network Box USA
(888) 315-8886 | www.networkboxusa.com

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