Is Network Security Complexity Holding You Back?

At its most fundamental level, the goal of network security is a straightforward one. Organizations have to safeguard their people, assets, and also the data that travels across and resides inside their systems. Edge in the game by setting security policies that detail parameters like who or what's permitted to gain access to which sources.

With time, even small organizations build up large libraries of security policies across a number of different security products. That old processes accustomed to create, update and audit these policies be a burden for that IT team and cause numerous trouble for the business.

Research firm Enterprise Strategy Group (ESG) lately surveyed 200 IT and cybersecurity decision-makers to know their thoughts about network security complexity and it is effects. They examine a few of the top challenges facing these organizations today within their new report “Navigating Network Security Complexity.”

It isn't just your imagination. Security gets more complicated.

Unsurprisingly, a big part (83%) of respondents felt that network security has become more difficult within the last 2 yrs. Many reasons exist with this, however the top responses incorporated:

1. More devices deployed around the network
2. Increased traffic around the network
3. The operations team managing more networking and security technologies

Taken together, these responses paint the image of the growing attack surface and growing workload for teams accountable for protecting organizations’ critical assets.

Challenges coming

Do you know the greatest network security challenges facing organizations within the next couple of years? Based on the survey, they're:

1. Business initiatives being adopted with no proper security participation
2. Too little dedicated network team
3. It requires too lengthy to handle network security policies

Companies are innovating in a record pace, plus they aren’t awaiting the safety team. Hiring staff remains challenging, and outdated processes are compounding the problem.

Brace for impact: outages, disruption and knowledge breaches

Nearly another (29%) of organizations stated they possessed a security event caused by network security complexity. The most typical occurrences incorporated network outages, application or network availability, lack of sensitive data, and lost productivity. Because of the critical nature of those risks, it’s obvious that network security management must be addressed when assessing an organization’s risk management strategy.

Recommendations: technology integration, automation, simplification

ESG offers three headline strategies for CISOs coping with network security complexity today. First, search for solutions which are integrated and centrally managed whenever possible. Next, look for solutions that highlight ease-of-use and time-to-value. Finally, organizations should shoot for process automation and employ technology to achieve this.

Whether you’re directly involved with managing your organization’s security policies or otherwise, you’re likely experiencing unwanted effects from the drain these manual tasks might have with an IT department. It’s time for you to prioritize making security policy management more effective, consistent and efficient. Studying the entire research report is a superb spot to get began.

Simplify network security management with Cisco Defense Orchestrator

At Cisco, we’re spending so much time to assist our customers streamline their security operations. Cisco Defense Orchestrator is really a cloud-based security policy and device manager that utilizes automation to get rid of complexity. Manage consistent security policies across Cisco ASA, FTD and Meraki MX devices, and lower time allocated to security management tasks by as much as 90%.