siliconindia | | May 201819ne of the biggest challenge organizations are facing today is the need to respond quickly to an increasing-ly mobile workforce and customer base. Data and services are the lifeline between or-ganizations and consumers as well as employees. To stay competitive, most organizations are embracing digital transformation, developing new tools and applications that provide faster and more seamless access to critical information, regardless of the device being used to access it. As a result, the weakest link in the security chain of today's expanding and increasing-ly distributed networks is almost al-ways the endpoint. However, most IT teams treat endpoint devices separately from the rest of the network. Endpoint secu-rity is often applied to devices as an isolated solution, usually in the form of an antivirus solution or endpoint security package. Network security often begins at the point where an endpoint device touches the network. But with networks spanning multiple ecosystems, including multi-cloud infrastructures, a growing number of cloud-based services, and even Shadow IT, that demarcation point is becoming increasingly difficult to define and defend. Enterprises can no longer keep endpoint devices in a se-cure "walled garden" that is separat-ed from the rest of the network.These devices also increasingly combine personal and profession-al profiles and information, which means that private activity, can im-pact business organizations. Specif-ically, when they launch an app or connect to the network, the network is exposed to whatever viruses or malware that device has been ex-posed to in the off hours. According to one study, 63% of organizations are unable to monitor endpoint devic-es when they leave the corporate net-work, and 53% reveal that malware infected endpoints have increased in the last 12 months. In addition, 56% of those IT professionals surveyed also report that they cannot deter-mine compliance for endpoint devic-es, while 70% report a "below aver-age" ability to minimize endpoint failure damages.Gartner predicts that 99% of the vulnerabilities exploited by the end of 2020 will continue to be ones known by security and IT profes-sionals at the time of the incident. Endpoint devices represent a major source for such exploits. The chal-lenge is that network security cannot protect endpoints, or even adequately protect themselves from rogue end-points devices, when those devices and their vulnerabilities exist outside of the corporate parameters. Finding an Effective Endpoint Secu-rity SolutionTo address this growing challenge, organizations need an effective end-point security strategy that ties end-point devices, including end user, host, and IoT devices, into the larger network security framework. Real endpoint security goes far beyond a simple AV service. It needs to leverage advanced detection tech-nologies to deal with more sophisti-cated threats.It also needs to provide full, 24x7 visibility, compliance, and control to ensure those and other technologies are properly deployed, both on and off the corporate network, ideally without forcing a VPN session.Most importantly, it needs be able to integrate into the broader security framework to enable the sharing of advanced threat intelligence as well as the ability to participateas part of a larger, automated threat response.THE WEAKEST LINK IS ALMOST ALWAYS THE ENDPOINTOCXO INSIGHTSBy Rajesh Maurya, Regional Vice President, India & SAARC, FortinetFortinet is an American multinational corporation headquartered in Sunnyvale, California which develops and markets cybersecurity software, appliances and services, such as firewalls, anti-virus, intrusion prevention and endpoint security, among others. It is the fourth-largest network security company by revenue.
< Page 9 | Page 11 >