Best Network Security Software

18.10.2022

Best Network Security Software

The amount of security threats have increased significantly in recent years. It means that security software for network has evolved too. In the past, an integrated firewall in the router and antivirus software on the computer were sufficient to secure network, but today it’s not enough. This issue is especially relevant for small to medium sized enterprises (SMEs). That’s why numerous companies are looking for a comprehensive unified threat management (UTM) solution to best fit their security requirements, as it is a single, unified and reliable network security solution. In this text we will take a closer look at the topic of network security and explain the advantages and disadvantages of network security software.

What is network security?

Network security refers any security aspect of data exchange over the network (including the Internet). Antivirus software itself is not enough to protect an entire corporate network, containing numerous devices. This is where a UTM solution comes into play. We are talking about Unified Threat Management, a uniform security solution that covers all security areas of a company network. These include:

• Firewall
• Anti-Virus
• Anti-Spyware
• Anti-Spam
• Web content and email filtering
• Security attack detection and monitoring
• Data leak prevention
• Remote routing and load balancing
• Network address translation (NAT)
• Virtual private network (VPN) support
• Application Control

As a holistic network security system, a UTM solution effectively defends against third-party access and protects the network from unwanted intrusions and malware. Automatic protection against complex security threats, such as the combination of malware and attacks that simultaneously target different parts of the network, is implemented.

How do network security tools work?

UTM systems are usually hardware-based and are connected locally to the company's own network. However, they are also offered on a cloud model and are therefore deployed in the provider's data center. The hardware is available as a virtual appliance, in other words, as a virtual machine. Similar to the cloud server, performance resources can be flexibly adjusted as required to achieve the best outcome.

How to combat a security threat most efficiently? 

When a network security problem occurs, it is important to act quickly. Defending against a complex security threat is less effective if network security tools are developed by different vendors. In this case, customer has separate user interfaces for security control and management. Updating is correspondingly time-consuming, but this is absolutely necessary for the best protection against the latest forms of malware and cybercrime.

As a central defense and security system, a UTM solution has only one user interface. This makes it much easier to defend against attacks. All data throughput goes through the UTM system and is automatically scanned for numerous security attributes in order to detect security threat. A customer defines the filter criteria himself/herself according to organization’s security requirements.

For whom are network security tools suitable?

The biggest advantage of a Unified Threat Management for network security is the simplicity of the security software solution. If a company's network security previously contained different security solutions, the best way is to obtain them from a single source and have them maintained by a small IT or security team. Organization’s security expert thus has everything needed and controls the UTM via a single/unified user interface. For a network administrator, this means

•    Easy setup and quick security training

•    Optimized security troubleshooting 

•    Insight into the company's security policies via console

•    Advantages of network security tools

An enterprise network security benefits significantly from a unified UTM solution usage. Deployment of a UTM solution strengthens the overall security level.

For instance, there are the following advantages:

•    Eliminate the need to individually manage and update different security systems.

•    Easy setup, troubleshooting and comprehensive security threat management.

•    Your IT department can get up to speed more quickly with a single security system.

•    Management and downtime costs can be significantly reduced and better planned.

•    Disadvantages of network security tools

•    Unified system also biggest vulnerability.

The biggest advantage of a unified security system is also its biggest weakness. A UTM system effectively ensures network security for businesses, however, it creates a major security leak if it fails. So it is advised to include a redundant alternative such as the flexible inclusion of additional UTM systems. It is generally advisable to deploy a complementary security software solution to your UTM system in case malware overcomes it.

The cost of network security tools

The marketing of a Unified Threat Management solution is typically a fixed price in terms of hardware. A common standard UTM solution costs around 2,000€. High-end security devices, on the other hand, are available from €4,000 upwards. 

Pricing is not very standardized 

Ensuring of network security in an organization is becoming more and more important due to the continuing increase of security threats complexity that is why many providers are now also relying on cloud security services. Thus, more or less power can be flexibly switched according to requirements. A cloud-based UTM solution is marketed as a license.

Since the UTM market is not very mature, there is quite little clarity about prices. So far, they are quite often set up individually on request according to the performance requirements of a company, as the necessary empirical values such as data on the actual device usage by several users is lacking. Nevertheless, many providers offer a free test product or live demo. This way, a customer gets to know the best and worst of the security product in advance without any obligations.

What should you look for when choosing a provider of best network security software?

At first glance, many UTM solutions appear to be very similar, but this impression is deceptive. For instance, when it comes to operation or the list of security services, there are simply no two identical systems. The criteria for choosing a suitable UTM solution also may be user-friendliness, performance, flexibility and licensing model.

Ease of use

The various software tools all come with different user interfaces, and the way they operate is not always obvious. Ideally, each user should try to work with the interface and make own conclusions. To do this, it is advisable to use a test account and make sure that navigation is simple. Changes should be easy to make without the need to ask a  security expert for help. Therefore, avoid UTM solutions that can only be configured via command line or require additional client management tools for operation.

Attend a webinar

To choose the most suitable solution, you should familiarize yourself with the software interface. It makes sense to attend an introductory course or webinar first. This way, you will learn how to use it first-hand and will not be confronted with it only after the purchase. This way customers know right from the beginning whether the network security tool suits their organizations’ security requirements.

Check factory pre-configuration

Many software vendors have their security solution pre-configured, what automatically eliminates the necessity for extensive initial setup at client’s side. This means that the network security system not only meets very high network security standards, but also helps to avoid the risk of misconfiguration of some important security features.

Consistent operation

In case a security problem occurs, it’s crucial to be able to react quickly. If you have many different programs those ensure organization’s network security, it is difficult to get the whole picture of what is actually happening in the infrastructure and it’s required to coordinate many security programs simultaneously. This unnecessary complexity makes daily routine work even more difficult instead of saving time. Therefore, when looking for a software provider, make sure that the vendor does not provide users with a set of detached security products, but that a unified system in which all protective functions are integrated is offered instead.

Scope of security services

The flip side of making the system as easy to use as possible, in other words, of a simplified user interface is the reduced range of security functions. Complicated options are simply omitted and some performance features are lost. For example, many vendors often advertise an all-around worry-free security solution, when in reality the software covers only a fraction of potential vulnerabilities.

Make sure that the chosen security solution contains all the features, required for ensuring security of business processes.

Check functions

Spam filters have different approaches to ensuring user protection against unwanted email. For instance, some anti-spam techniques rely on static lists. Others are based directly on spam behavior and work flexibly. If some function is listed by the provider of a network security solution, this does not automatically mean that it meets your security requirements. Therefore, it is best to take some time and get to know the software solution well to reveal whether the feature is actually relevant for your organization’s security tasks implementation.

Performance

It is often difficult to come to some sensible conclusion by simply having a look at the numbers in the data sheet for a product. But if you understand the context behind them, they become tangible and make sense.

Let's take a look at SMTP e-mail throughput, for example. In our example, the value is 120,000 messages per hour. But what does this value depend on?

The following factors play a key role:
•    Time period in which mails are sent and received
•    Size of scanned emails (number of characters and attached files)
•    Time at which mails are accepted or rejected during filtering

The latest anti-spam technologies block many mails even before their content can be scanned. This method supposes that all mails that have to pass network security are reduced to a fraction. A UTM system thus achieves a considerable increase in security performance. The data throughput per hour also depends on the activated filters. Depending on the settings of a network security software, results of even two test runs on the same system may differ significantly.

Flexibility and customization

A network security system must be flexible. Only in this case it can meet organization’s current security requirements. As new security threats emerge, new tools and new best technologies, updated to latest versions are required. Just like in case with a cloud server, you should always be able to add power to your existing virtual appliances and connect them to your infrastructure. As a result, all software components are ideally coordinated and ensure optimal collaboration and security. Access and administration continue to take place as usual via the central user interface. In this way, you not only save time and money, but your security system always meets your current performance requirements with consistent operation.

Little transparency in licenses

The license terms of a network security solution are often not very informative and sometimes formulated in a very veiled way. Therefore, always pay attention to the small print and the following points:

Inconsistencies in the number of users

When you hear the term unlimited, many things certainly come to mind, but not conditions or even restrictions. Nevertheless, many providers talk about an unlimited number of users, but at the same time limit the number of active users. Although this keeps the advertising promise, it is of little use to you as a customer. Furthermore, the composition of the billed users is not always apparent. Where some providers only take IP addresses into account, others use other factors such as MAC addresses, cookies and active sessions.

Bandwidth limitations

Some network security vendors market their products exclusively by limiting the maximum data throughput. This simply limits the bandwidth to a certain value. If you have a high data throughput, it is urgent to ensure that the bandwidth is high or unlimited.

Performance data spread over several products

To present the performance data a bit more impressively, some providers base their figures on several products. The implied performance is thus only possible through the combination of several products and can never be achieved on its own. So, it is best to make sure you know in advance which products are used for ensuring the promised performance and what the associated costs are.

Overview of the most important security functions

Below is a brief overview of the most important features required to ensure best network security.

• Dashboard:

A central dashboard enables to keep track of everything on the network and benefit from simplified operation.

• Web Protection:

Get an overview of current settings in the deployment options, go through security policy settings, and inspect the filter action wizard and the policy testing tool. Convenient web reports are also integrated.

• Email Protection:

Thanks to Email Protection, your POP and SMTP messages have comprehensive protection against phishing and data loss on the network. This is combined with email encryption and an anti-spam filter for the best result.

• Network Protection:

Define your own firewall rules, this for different sites and services. Using Intrusion Prevention (IPS), block incoming and outgoing traffic for specific countries.

• Wireless Protection:

Use Wireless Access Point to set up secure WLANs in just minutes and manage them centrally.

• Web server protection:

Provide secure access for your employees and external security service providers using reverse    proxy authentication and benefit from a sophisticated system against hacking attempts and security attacks.
 

Risk assessment Risk management