FireMon, the leading network security policy management company that brings visibility, control, agility and automation to enterprise cloud and hybrid network infrastructure, today announced the release of new research by the Aberdeen Group, Operational Cost, Security Related Risk: Quantifying the Value of Network Security Policy Management.
A surprising degree of complexity was discovered throughout the course of the Aberdeen Group’s research. The analysis showcases a review of 13,000 enterprises characterized by multiple sites and vendors as well as workloads in on-premise and public cloud environments. “For many enterprises, manual management of network security policies has become exceedingly complex, especially with the popularity of cloud-based deployments. Our analysis shows that the growing complexity of these environments is directly correlated with higher operational cost and increased security-related risk,” states report author Derek E. Brink, vice president and research fellow, Aberdeen Group.
“Aberdeen’s analysis shows how the automation, visibility, and integration provided by a network security policy management solution can deliver 4.3 times annual ROI in terms of operational cost savings, and about 2.5 times in terms of reducing the security-related risks of network slowdown or unplanned downtime,” concludes Brink.
By way of a Monte Carlo Model, the report estimates the total business impact of managing network security policies manually can cost an organization up to a staggering $7.2 million per year. In contrast, organizations leveraging a security policy management solution can see a reduction in total business impact of about 400 percent, representing an annual ROI of about 7.5 times at the median.
Organizations that invest in security policy management solutions reap numerous benefits. The research highlights a reduction in the day-to-day burden on operational staff, improved accuracy by way of automation, increased flexibility and agility of hybrid on-premises/ cloud-based IT infrastructure as well as the strategic reward of reduced security-related risks.
The report summarizes three critical factors that drive efficiencies, security and cost savings:
Automation – The automation of workflows for network security configuration changes and policy updates is increasingly essential. It provides a high level of assurance that important tasks are accurately and consistently carried out.
Real-time visibility – Continuous real-time visibility into policies, rules, and configurations that are in place throughout network security infrastructure, on-premise and in the cloud, enabling centralized governance and management.
Integration – Necessary integration with a wide range of network firewall products and application deployment models.
“This research confirms what our customers tell us every day – manually managing network security policy is a growing threat to business agility and security efficiency,” said Charles Gold, Chief Marketing Officer of FireMon. “Our typical enterprise customer has to manage policy across hundreds of enforcement points from different vendors, spread over global networks in the cloud and on-premise. Managing this manually is simply untenable.”
The full report can be found at http://content.firemon.com/l/11772/2020-10-21/6p8wvj.
About FireMon
FireMon is the only agile network security policy platform for firewalls and cloud security groups providing the fastest way to streamline network security policy management, which is one of the biggest impediments to IT and enterprise agility. Since creating the first-ever network security policy management solution, FireMon has delivered command and control over complex network security infrastructures for more than 1,700 customers located in nearly 70 countries around the world. For more information, visit www.firemon.com.
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