WatchGuard warns IT pros against applying ‘One Security Policy to All’

WatchGuard® Technologies has launched the WatchGuard Firebox® M440 UTM/NGFW appliance designed to further simplify network security. The WatchGuard Firebox ® M440 features multiple independent ports, removing the need for complex configurations such as VLANs and simplifying the critical process of applying traffic-appropriate policies across multiple network segments – a process beyond the technical reach of many organisations. WatchGuard’s visibility solution, Dimension™, also provides the industry’s only real-time, single-pane-of-glass view to show the effect each policy is having on that segment’s traffic.

“Network security solutions are only good if they’re not too difficult for IT pros to use,” said Dave R. Taylor, vice president of corporate strategy and product management for WatchGuard. “The Firebox M440 makes it drop-dead easy to create segments, map the traffic, create custom policies based on what traffic is in each segment, and instantly see how it affects traffic. Applying the appropriate security policies to the correct traffic flows is what truly defines the success of your segmentation strategy and the Firebox M440 takes the configuration complexity out of the process.”

John Stengel, President of J Stengel Consulting, a network security, management and training firm, stresses that effective segmentation has never been more critical, stating, “The common misconception that strategies such as role-based authentication or basic VLAN switching and routing constitutes effective network segmentation, delivers a false sense of security. With the increased expectation for anytime employee access and advances around embedded Internet devices (IoT) and recent breaches like Target tied to a lack of proper segmentation, it has never been a better time for organisations to re-evaluate how they segment the network and ensure they have the right policies applied.”

The WatchGuard Firebox M440 delivers 25 1Gb Ethernet ports, eight that deliver Power over Ethernet (PoE), plus two 10 Gb SFP+ (fiber) ports. For more information click here.