Multiple Attack Vectors Make A Sound Case For UTM: Frost & Sullivan

Unified threat management (UTM) integrates multiple security tools into a single network appliance, enabling businesses to deploy enterprise-grade security without the complexity and costs associated with multiple point products. The value of integrated solutions becomes all the more apparent in an environment of advanced attacks, wherein cyber criminals favor blended attacks that use multiple vectors and require more than one security function.

New analysis from Frost & Sullivan, Analysis of the Unified Threat Management Market and the Impact of Convergence, finds that the market earned revenues of $1.84 billion in 2010 and estimates this to reach $3.75 billion in 2015.

The rising number of high-profile breaches and companies’ obligation to report them publicly, further motivate businesses to invest in sophisticated network security products such as UTM. Meanwhile, there is a marked shift toward converged security and networking functionalities, which include quality of service (QoS), Internet protocol version 6 (IPv6), load balancing and mobile device management.

While the UTM value proposition of all-in-one security is strong, vendors must continue to develop next-generation capabilities to meet evolving business practices and stay competitive against specialised security solutions. Their solutions must prove impenetrable, even when combating many new threat vectors such as Web application vulnerabilities, as traditional security functions are unequal to the task of warding them off.

“Businesses seek to leverage new technologies to stay competitive, but must also accept the associated risks,” said Frost & Sullivan Research Analyst Chris Rodriguez. “For UTM vendors, the ability to address these novel threats will determine their success in the market.”

UTM products integrate essential security technologies such as firewalls, virtual private network (VPN), intrusion prevention, anti-malware, spam filtering, web filtering and data leakage prevention. Many small businesses find tremendous value in this approach and UTM solutions are becoming increasingly popular within enterprise organisations as well.

“Innovative UTM vendors have developed new technologies capable of inspecting network traffic based on extensive contextual data such as application, user, time, device and location,” said Rodriguez. “This enables the UTM products to more effectively and accurately identify and block threats.”