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. Firewalls
must be administrated by highly trained
technical 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 free 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. Would 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 highlyrecommended 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 (877)757-9900
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