Correctly configured firewalls are still a critical cyber security tool: survey
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- Published: Tuesday, 25 April 2017 09:47
FireMon has released the results from a survey that assessed the views of 350 IT security professionals on the importance of firewalls in the fight to prevent data breaches. The poll found that 72 percent of respondents agreed that no matter how much money is spent on IT security, it is wasted if the firewalls are not configured properly. A further 52 percent had experienced a firewall configuration change that opened a potential security breach that caused business downtime.
“We often hear that ‘the firewall is dead’ and an array of security ‘solutions’ have cropped up in this wake, but it is clear from this study that is most definitely not the case,” said Michael Callahan, CMO, FireMon. ”In fact, no matter what security solutions an organization has in place, it means nothing if the firewalls aren’t managed correctly. The problem is compounded when you think about how many organizations have tens or even hundreds of firewalls as part of their security defences – all of which need to be configured. This creates a gap between the security environment complexity and the resources to manage it where mistakes are likely to occur and risk increases.”
FireMon believes the key to closing this gap is more effective management of security solutions:
“Incorporating robust, intelligent security management can greatly reduce all the complexity that surrounds the IT security infrastructure,” continued Callahan. “It can help identify specific weak points within the firewall and avert any potential breach within a system.”
