Industry executives and experts share their predictions for 2018. Read them in this 10th annual VMblog.com series exclusive.
Contributed by Paul Martini, CEO, co-founder and chief architect of iboss
The Future is Clear – 2018 Will Be A Year of Change for Web Gateways
Ransomware,
malware and breaches - there certainly was no shortage of various hacks of all
kinds in 2017. Companies have been going through a massive shift in how they
assess and implement security measures, especially as the cloud continues to
dominate the larger enterprise evolution. With this year coming to an end, what
kind of things are on the horizon for 2018?
IoT - It's Not Going Anywhere
Unfortunately,
the industry will continue to be plagued by IoT botnets and malware. 2018 will
be the year that enterprises and service providers finally realize that waiting
for device manufacturers to improve hardware security is a losing proposition
and will need to take it upon themselves to secure their networks against
compromised devices. An increasing number of enterprises will deploy network
security solutions that are designed specifically to protect large numbers of
connected devices - which speaks to the distributed workforce uptick.
Enterprises
need to be prepared for the continued rise of IoT in the enterprise and the
impact it will cause as the last vestiges of a "network perimeter" crumbles. As
more and more devices gain the ability to continuously enter and leave the
network, each one becomes a potential carrier of malware that once inside the
network will spread to more valuable devices.
The Future is a Distributed Workforce
With all
that being said, the focus of the security landscape will continue to be on IoT
and Cloud adoption. By now, most organizations have realized the power of the
cloud and are moving towards fully embracing the benefits of cloud applications
like Office 365. This will lead to more efficiency for remote and mobile
employees but will also further complicate cybersecurity policies as IT teams
will be forced to deal with the erosion of the network perimeter. The
overarching challenge that security teams are facing are determining how to
scale their security solutions to maintain pace with skyrocketing bandwidth
demands. As more employees are using cloud applications, they require more
bandwidth and as more IoT devices are connected, they will be competing for
bandwidth.
The rapid
decentralization of the workforce and increase in business cloud applications
will exponentially add complexity as securing this distributed bandwidth using
a centralized approach to cybersecurity will no longer work. Organizations will
need to quickly come up with a solution that can secure this suddenly massive
amount of bandwidth without facing prohibitive cost increases.
Web Gateways Will Evolve
Companies
looking to address these concerns and changes need to have a solid
understanding of Secure Web Gateways. 2018 will be the year that legacy
on-premises secure web gateways are going to start disappearing. They are
simply unsustainable given the decentralized bandwidth demands expected in 2018
and beyond. A legacy appliance-based approach to web gateways translates to
backhauling large of amounts of bandwidth to centralized web gateway appliances
which is financially unsustainable and requires large IT efforts to maintain.
Looking to
address these issues, iboss developed a web-gateway as a service delivered as a cloud subscription.
With malware prevention, SSL traffic management, and compliance policy controls,
the Distributed Gateway Platform offers complete advanced threat
protection and web gateway functionality all within a single, cloud-based
subscription service.
2018 will be
the year cloud-based web gateways supplant legacy on-premises appliances and it's
time for enterprises to look for and implement solutions that can offer the
benefits of the cloud without the risks of shared infrastructure. The future of
web gateways is available now and 2018 is the year to get on board.
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About the Author
Paul Martini is the CEO, co-founder and chief
architect of iboss, where he pioneered the award-winning iboss Distributed
Gateway Platform. Prior to founding iboss, Paul developed a wide-variety of
complex security and technology solutions for clients such as Phogenix, the
U.S. Navy, and Hewlett Packard. He was also a key contributor at Copper
Mountain Networks working on designing and implementing FPGAs and broadband
network infrastructure used by Telcos to build the cloud. His work at Science
Applications International Corporation (SAIC) involved building distributed
real-time systems for companies such as Rolls Royce. Copper Mountain and SAIC
both launched successful IPOs. Paul has been recognized for his leadership and
innovation, receiving the Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of The Year award and
being named one of Goldman Sachs' 100 Most Intriguing Entrepreneurs. He holds a
Computer Science Degree from the University of California, and has had his work
published in many scientific journals, including the Journal of Foundations in
Computer Science and the Journal of Analytical Biochemistry.