Graduating from its unsung hero position among contending cybersecurity disciplines, network security policy management (NSPM) has shifted towards the role of team MVP. Gartner recently gave NSPM a benefit rating of ‘high’ in its most recent “Hype Cycle for Infrastructure Protection” report, as these tools have been known to not only reduce costs, but increase revenue for enterprises and help streamline current processes.
What’s with all the hype?
Gartner’s guide devoted to assessing technologies designed to help defend IT suggests that end-users looking to optimize, visualize and reduce firewall rule policies in addition to migrating rules should turn to NSPM – and for good reason. These tools will work to redefine traditional network security policy management that’s often burdened by manual labor, room for error and noncompliance.
NSPM tools offer a variety of services for organizations when it comes to network security operations with firewall policy management, complex policy change workflows and compliance audits, and management of multiple firewall vendors. Since most firewalls contain thousands of rules accumulated over years of deployment, these rules are oftentimes outdated, conflicting and redundant. Such rules negatively impact a network’s performance and availability, which, in turn, negatively impacts businesses altogether.
Because applying the right security policies at the right network control points can be challenging as networks grow, NSPM tools reduce headaches by providing visibility and simplifying policy provisioning.
Who’s in the driver’s seat?
Companies are increasingly looking to the cloud for greater efficiency at reduced costs but worry about the security of the data and other functions they are moving there. This security worry is fueling a demand for NSPM tools. Gartner explained that these tools can help companies manage “thousands of rules across many enforcement points” and recommends firms that currently have or are planning cloud deployments should consider using these tools.
As the debate between private vs. public cloud rages on, enterprises transitioning to the cloud now have a hodgepodge network comprised of both on-premises and cloud-based solutions. Managing the multitude of policies has become a burdensome task for IT administrators that must maintain business agility while securing their applications in increasingly diverse and complex networks.
According to a recent survey conducted by ESG, a majority of respondents confirmed multiple challenges around managing security policies of public/private cloud platforms. Over 90% of the 150 CISOs and senior network administrators surveyed said they are already using cloud-based infrastructure-as-a-service and/or platform-as-a-service as part of their IT strategy, but 70% agreed that their organization is still learning how to apply its security policies to public/private cloud infrastructure. Moreover, 56% agreed that current network security operations and processes lack the right level of orchestration and automation needed for the cloud.
In the midst of this growing cloud security need, organizations need new products to provide greater security policy control across on-premises and cloud environments, including automatic discovery, policy enforcement, and provisioning of applications to ensure business continuity. NSPM tools provide application-based visibility and control, making management of application connectivity easier.
Although NSPM may not inspire the same level of passion as other cybersecurity disciplines, this under looked and little-known category is about to gain a lot of attention. As organizations continue to flock to the cloud, the need for better security will also continue to soar, increasing the need for streamlining business effectiveness through NSPM tools.
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