All-in-one information security challenges

Aug 22, 2006 2:17 PM

           

Security appliances that consolidate firewall/VPN, content filtering, intrusion prevention and more into a single box are winning favor as easy-to-manage devices. But the open secret about these unified threat management (UTM) appliances is that they take a bite out of bandwidth as they inspect content, according to an article by Network World.
UTM products on the market today can potentially suffer as much as a 50 percent loss in performance as all security services are put to use.
"When you turn on all the services, the speed is impacted," says John Kuhn, product line manager at SonicWall. "Absolutely there is a performance consideration, and it could be a 50 percent loss."
Several other UTM appliance vendors, including Internet Security Systems (ISS), Secure Computing and Symantec, are equally blunt that customers could experience as much as a 50 percent performance loss in speed.
"In general, it's more like 10, but 50 percent is possible," says Mark Butler, director of product marketing at ISS.
Despite any drawbacks associated with bandwidth, UTM seems to be here to stay. UTM appliances vary considerably from vendor to vendor. Some vendors making UTM products must partner with other security firms to support antivirus, or other content-filtering, on their UTM products when they don't have the technology in-house.
According to the Network World article, most vendors see their UTM products deployed at the Internet gateway, although Mike Jones, Cisco's senior product manager, says "it's no longer about protecting just the Internet edge, but going inside" to provide firewall, antivirus antispam and URL filtering deep within the corporate network.
But with UTM growing in popularity, one question that arises is whether the market will see a drop in stand-alone devices, such as firewalls or spam filters.
Future of UTM Each vendor sees its UTM future differently, but a common concern is analyzing the impact VoIP traffic might have on UTM design now that customers are starting to put VoIP traffic through UTM gateways.
"As you add voice traffic to the network, there are a lot more small packets that make the box work harder," Chris Roekl, vice president of corporate marketing at UTM vendor Fortinet, told the publication. Fortinet also envisions ways to inspect VoIP traffic for viruses that might be injected into VoIP streams.
"We're looking at the various attacks," Roeckl says.

Want to use this article? Click here for options!
© 2008 Penton Media Inc.

SUBSCRIBE

Select an Issue April 1, 2008 March 1, 2008 February 1, 2008 January 1, 2008 December 1, 2007 November 1, 2007 October 1, 2007 September 1, 2007 August 1, 2007 July 1, 2007 June 1, 2007 IP Security Supplement May 1, 2007 April 1, 2007 March 1, 2007 February 1, 2007 January 1, 2007 School Security December 1, 2006 November 1, 2006 October 1, 2006 September 1, 2006 August 1, 2006 July 1, 2006 June 1, 2006 May 1, 2006 April 1, 2006 March 1, 2006 February 1, 2006 January 1, 2006 December 1, 2005 November 1, 2005 October 1, 2005 September 1, 2005 August 1, 2005 July 1, 2005 June 1, 2005 May 1, 2005 April 1, 2005 March 1, 2005 February 1, 2005 January 1, 2005 December 1, 2004 November 1, 2004 October 1, 2004 September 1, 2004 August 1, 2004 July 1, 2004 July 1, 2004 June 1, 2004 May 1, 2004 April 1, 2004 March 1, 2004 February 1, 2004 January 1, 2004 December 1, 2003 November 1, 2003 October 1, 2003 September 1, 2003 August 1, 2003 July 1, 2003 June 1, 2003 May 1, 2003 April 1, 2003 March 1, 2003 February 1, 2003 January 1, 2003 December 1, 2002 November 1, 2002 October 1, 2002 September 1, 2002 August 1, 2002 July 1, 2002 June 1, 2002 May 1, 2002 April 1, 2002 March 1, 2002 February 1, 2002 January 1, 2002 December 1, 2001 November 1, 2001 October 1, 2001 September 1, 2001 August 1, 2001 July 1, 2001 June 1, 2001 May 1, 2001 April 1, 2001 March 1, 2001 February 1, 2001 January 1, 2001 December 1, 2000 November 1, 2000 October 1, 2000 September 1, 2000 August 1, 2000 July 1, 2000 June 1, 2000 May 1, 2000 April 1, 2000 March 1, 2000 February 1, 2000 January 1, 2000 December 1, 1999 November 1, 1999 October 1, 1999 September 1, 1999 August 1, 1999 July 1, 1999 June 1, 1999 May 1, 1999 April 1, 1999 March 1, 1999 February 1, 1999 January 1, 1999 December 1, 1998 November 1, 1998 October 1, 1998 September 1, 1998 August 1, 1998 July 1, 1998 June 1, 1998 May 1, 1998 April 1, 1998 March 1, 1998 February 1, 1998 January 1, 1998 December 1, 1997 November 1, 1997 October 1, 1997 September 1, 1997 August 1, 1997 July 1, 1997 June 1, 1997 May 1, 1997 April 1, 1997 March 1, 1997 February 1, 1997 January 1, 1997

This month in Access Control

• Opening Up About Door Closers
• An Enterprise Approach
• The Framework For Open Systems
• On A Higher Plane
• More from April's issue