VARs Stress Importance Of Layered Security
Companies cannot assume that having one security product is going to protect them from everything, said Dave Gilden, COO of Acuity Solutions, a Tampa, Fla.-based solution provider. “Symantec makes a great [antivirus] product, but you have to look at your environment holistically and make sure you have nonconflicting layers to ensure your protection,” Gilden said.
Paul Adamonis, director of security solutions at Forsythe, a Skokie, Ill.-based solution provider, recommends a hardware-based firewall for network layer protection, as well as other security pieces including intrusion-detection and -prevention technology, antivirus at the gateway and the desktop, desktop and host-based software firewalls, and network access control.
Having multiple levels of insurance protection is important because there isn’t one particular piece of software that will catch all of the malware and unauthorized traffic that goes through a network, Adamonis said.
“Having multiple technologies–and even multiple vendors–gives companies the ability to provide overlapping levels of security so there are no holes or backdoors that could allow something to be deployed,” he said.
Gary Cannon, president of Advanced Internet Security, a Colorado Springs, Colo.-based solution provider, said companies that don’t implement multiple layers of security are putting themselves at a disadvantage when it comes to guarding against threats.
“A lot of people rely on gateway protection, but there are other avenues into your [network],” Cannon said. “To me, anyone who doesn’t layer security is basically asking for something to happen.”
Despite these benefits, many VARs still haven’t woken up to the need for layered security and are still trying to sell security as a box, said Chris Boykin, CEO of Houston-based Got Net Solutions.
“If you ask most VARs what it takes to make a network secure, I would assume most of them wouldn’t even mention starting with a security policy,” Boykin said.