Layered security has been a buzz word for a long time now, but the question is still just as relevant today as when it was first introduced.  The question now isn't "do you have layered security".  Of course you do!  Everyone does.  So instead of being so generic, you need to ask - are those security layers provided through one vendor's stack of products and solutions or a combination of multiple vendors?

Multi-Vendor Layered Security

 The reason for multi-layered security is simple.  If you currently have a vendor who utilizes the same security engine in all their solutions then you're often going to have the same detections across all the layers.  But...if that engine doesn't detect a new virus or attack, then it'll waltz right through all of your defenses completely undetected.  For example, does your firewall use the same detection engine as your antivirus solution? How about your web filtering, email scanner, or network security?  Ultimately there's a risk in having the same vendor for all of those security technologies, because they can have the same flaws across the entirety of their security technology suites.

There's a value in having different vendors because they offer different methodologies in protecting your network, your data, your workstations, or servers.  Having different vendors protecting the different layers could be the difference between a dedicated attacker piercing all of your layers or that attacker getting caught by a number of different vendor's security solutions and blocking the attack before it completes...or hopefully even begins.  But the biggest reason people don't use multiple vendors for the different layers of security is because of a lack of integration.

Multi-Vendor Layered Security CAN Integrate

You already have layered security.  Fantastic!  You've done the first step in guaranteeing you're using different technologies that work to protect your IT Infrastructure.  But how does it all integrate?  How many security consoles do you have to keep track of?   If a threat is detected by one, can any of your other vendors technologies work together to prevent a massive data breach or malware infection from spreading across your network and systems?

The difference between having multiple layers, and multi-vendor layers, and multi-vendor layers that integrate is like different types of cars of the same model.  One might have the standard offerings, but the others have additional features, and one of them is the luxury version.  Obviously, you need a car, but do you really just want a car without anything extra? Do you only need to drive from point a to b?  Do you want or need heated seats?  How about a CD player?  Do you want a dash cam? Do you want air conditioning?  All sorts of options in the different models from all sorts of manufacturers.

Having an integrated set of layered security technologies means you are able to handle threats that get detected at one layer and every other layer then also knows about it.  Seeing an attempted network penetration in one layer, and modifying security policies across all layers to handle the threat.  But what about management of those technologies?

How are you managing your Layered Security?

Ideally, we have infinite budget, time, and staff to handle our IT Infrastructure, but we don't have any (or most) of those when we have to create our Security Architecture.  Often the question becomes "how much quality can we sacrifice in order to pay less in time, budget or staffing?" and it isn't easily answered.  Imagine getting in your car today and trying to figure out which you want more - windshield wipers or air conditioning?  I live in Texas, I may need both of those in the same day - so it isn't always a question that can be answered without a great deal of foresight.  Although our current heat wave would have me going for the air conditioner.

But even if you know you have limits on budget or time, there are technologies that are within reasonable price points to handle a majority of the existing security threats out there.  Availability of solutions isn't the problem, having the right combination of them that works together is.  Without knowing how your security being managed by humans 24/7/365 you can have issues that are otherwise unsolved or prevented in the middle of the night or around a holiday weekend.

There are options for everyone, and it is possible to have a much higher degree of security than you may have today, so it is always worth considering - and here's a couple of questions I pose to you:

How does your current security handle threats?

Look internally and spend a little time analyzing your different security layers, and consider the following:

• What are you doing for Endpoint Protection?
  • What are you doing for Servers?
  • What are you doing for Virtual Systems?
    
• What security are you using for your Network?
  
  • Firewalls
  • Routers
  • Network Monitoring Devices
• Do you have a SIEM (Security Information and Event Management) solution?
• Do you have a SOC (Security Operations Center)?
  • If you have or are looking to get cybersecurity insurance then you will be required to have a SOC
• Do you have an MDR/EDR/XDR/MTR or some other Managed Detection & Response service?

If you aren't sure how to answer any or all of those questions, you should schedule a meeting with us to schedule a Cybersecurity Risk Analysis.  Plus we can discuss the different options for layered security you can utilize, or what technologies today might already integrate with your current IT Security Architecture.  You'd be surprised to learn there are plenty of integrations available.

It also might be just as easy knowing that the existing technologies you already have can and DO in fact integrate.  We'll gladly work with you to help execute on that integration.  Reach out to us today.  We're here to help!