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Shifting security to the edge

As applications move to the cloud and networks become increasingly complex, organisations require a comprehensive security solution designed to protect the WAN edge. Troye has announced a solution that ensures holistic edge security with single-pane-of-glass management, all in a fully integrated security stack.

Citrix SD-WAN Edge Security is a full built-in edge security stack that protects a customer's direct Internet path, allowing the Internet to be a trusted connection method for the enterprise network. This next-generation firewall protects against zero-day threats, malware and prevents undesirable or inappropriate content and applications from being accessed.

It can readily deliver consistent security policies from a cloud-based, single-pane-of-glass orchestrator, reducing the inevitable complexities stemming from deploying, configuring, and managing multiple products from multiple vendors.

Troye technical director Kurt Goodall says the rapid shift to the cloud requires a rework of the outdated hub-and-spoke network model to a direct Internet breakout approach. "Backhauling cloud traffic over MPLS to a centralised hub for secure Internet egress puts strain on existing bandwidth which is not easily or cost-effectively scalable and the inefficient routing can cause latency."

"The proliferation of networking and security devices in each branch results in decentralised management and added complexity. Organisations require a more direct model for accessing cloud apps. But that comes at a hefty price: increased cybersecurity risks.

Infrastructure and operations teams can use Citrix SD-WAN to consolidate edge infrastructure while centrally managing it all. Citrix SD-WAN’s integrated security stack is built to secure the WAN edge.

This comprehensive next-gen security stack includes a built-in, application-aware stateful firewall that integrates with application QoS to allow centrally defined security policies to limit or reject application traffic.

It also offers signature-based IPS that effectively mitigates sophisticated threats with more than 34 000 signature detections for a variety of attacks. New attack signatures are automatically updated to ensure protection against the latest attacks.

URL filtering provides protection from web-borne malware and misused bandwidth. It accesses the largest URL database across 79 categories, 750 million domains and 32 billion URLs classified across 45 languages. Additionally, 6 million dangerous IPs are correlated with URLs.

Goodall points to various reports and event logs that help customers identify how their networks are being used or abused. "Citrix SD-WAN Edge Security offers anti-malware, a defence against zero-day threats, viruses, worms, trojan horses, botnets, unknown malware, and new infections.

"It also protects against the full range of Internet traffic including HTTP, FTP, and SMTP. Citrix SD-WAN Edge Security decompresses and scans archives and compressed files, protecting against complex archive bombs. More importantly, it detects infected clients that join your network and prevents them from calling home," he adds.

Powered by Bitdefender, Citrix SD-WAN Edge Security protects against security attacks that originate from direct branch access to the Internet and cloud. It blocks threats by stopping lateral propagation of threats from branch to branch or within the branch.

Citrix SD-WAN Orchestrator helps organisations manage both SD-WAN and the integrated edge security stack from a central location so that the IT department can focus on app experience and performance without compromising on security.

It offers actionable visibility; customers gain insight into trends across the network to understand the security risks that require them to act. They can drill down into granular site-level reports to see top activities, device or network in real time.

Citrix takes a strong application-centric SD-WAN solution and integrates comprehensive security at the edge, keeping the network at the forefront. By combining advanced security functionality with networking capabilities, SD-WAN delivers a high-quality user experience at your branch offices while reducing cost and complexity. This gives users an unparalleled application experience at the branch without compromising on security when accessing Internet and SaaS applications directly.

"Customers can manage everything from a single pane of glass. They get simplified management for both edge security and SD-WAN through a single pane of glass with Citrix SD-WAN Orchestrator. This eliminates the hassles of dealing with multiple vendors, licences, and management dashboards," he concludes.

For more information contact Troye, +27 11 705 2757, helen@troye.co.za, www.troye.co.za

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