In order to combat the rising sophistication of security threats, a holistic approach to the different aspects of next-generation security remains critical for today’s business.
This is according to Stefan van de Giessen, general manager: cyber security at Networks Unlimited Africa, who says the term ‘next-generation’ describes products that have been developed using the latest technology, which are set to replace existing products.
For example, next-generation firewalls typically feature advanced functions including application awareness, integrated intrusion prevention systems (IPS), enterprise firewall capabilities, identity awareness and the ability to use external intelligence sources.
Van de Giessen explains: “An effective IT security ecosystem involves the consolidation of tools, and intelligence and analytics should feature strongly in the technology deployed to protect the network. The use of cloud-based big data analytics needs to be used to analyse, understand and predict threats.
“It is also important to be aware of threats that may be lurking inside the network, as threat actors today are capable of remaining undetected within a network for extended periods of time before deploying their weapons of both system-compromise and/or intelligence theft. This gives rise to the need for a tool that provides visibility and is able to control the network after a breach, but is also capable of taking preventative measures in the first place.”
Therefore, says Van de Giessen, it’s critical for organisations to have a systematic and holistic security position. He notes that the vendor partners represented in the Networks Unlimited Africa security suite are chosen for their complementary solutions.