An Educated Choice
In this age of E-Commerce, Web Mail and VPN tunnels, firewalls
have become the guard dog in a box. They are designed to foil hackers, resist
brute force attacks and police all traffic entering and leaving your network.
The question is do you really understand Network Security and all of its
changing dynamics? Firewalls cant do the job by themselves. They must be
administrated by highly trained personnel, earning an annual salary of $80,000
to $120,000 per year. More than one person is required to provide around the
clock monitoring and response. In addition, these personnel require
constant training and upgrading of skills in order to stay on top of the latest
threats and vulnerabilities.
Firewalls are part of the overall network and security
infrastructure. They work in combination with a meticulous and well documented
set of Policies and Procedures. The overall cost of a security solution must be
balanced against the value of what is being protected. The three year cost of
one firewall and one person to run it can exceed $255,000. By contrast it
usually costs between $250 and $5,000 per month (plus setup fee) to outsource a
firewall. Security experts are scarce and expensive. Outsourcing is a great way
of tapping into the pool of such skilled talent, without having to bear the
direct costs associated with it. There are immediate benefits to outsourcing
firewalls:
There are no steep direct hiring costs of security personnel.
The company does not have to install nor maintain the firewall.
Network technicians are freed to keep the network running.
Outsourcing companies will also do some on the job security training for key
network personnel to keep them up on security issues.
A Firewall can be monitored 24 hours a day, 7 days a week by the outsourcing
company.
With outsourcing, the three year costs associated with the
firewall could be $127,500. This can be less than half of doing it yourself! No
one can make the statement that a company is 100% secure! The goal is to manage
risk and respond rapidly to minimize overall damage when break-ins do occur.
Wouldnt you rather have an expert on the other end of the phone talking you
through it? Outsourcing provides this additional security muscle for your
organization.
Outsourcing Advice
Whether you decide to outsource or not, the following is recommended to minimize
security risks:
Managing security is about managing risk.
List and prioritize everything that must be secured.
Write a thorough security policy.
Find the technology to implement and enforce the policy.
Consider Intrusion Detection technology in order to respond to attacks in real
time.
Find vendors that ask to see the company Security Policy before designing a
plan.
When appropriate, outsource some or all of your security as a cost saving
measure.
Get references from the vendor.
Learn More
To learn more about
how we can help managed your firewall security call and speak with a
professional staff toll-free 866-469-9255 Option #1
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