The rising number of cyber security threats keep driving demand for security solutions despite overall budgetary pressures. Keeping pace, manufacturers have been bringing to market appliances that incorporate enhanced features to tackle specialized threat prevention, distributed denial of service protection, and application control among other myriad threats.

“The market data seems to indicate that demand is starting to increase again after a long winter nap. We believe that some of this if not most of the increase in demand stems from the fact that Cyberwar and Espionage are prevalent in many CSO and CIO’s minds. Our lab data seems to indicate that botnet based attacks are on the rise along with increasingly more complex malware and viruses that are aimed at spyware and similar access obtaining methods,” says Michael Goedeker, Director Pre Sales ESG, CEEMEA at Sophos.

UTM products that consolidate multiple security technologies into a single network device have been one of the strongest growth segments in security, since these devices enable less TCO and feature centralized management and deeper integration between complementary security technologies.  According to IDC, the Unified Threat Management (UTM) segment saw the largest year-over-year revenue increase at 29.2% and accounted for 39.4% of security appliance revenue in 3Q13 as multi-function appliances continue to drive growth in the overall market

Manufacturers are challenged to remain innovative as customers seek to adopt new technologies such as cloud computing, virtualization, and mobile devices. To keep up with a fast evolving security landscape in the region WatchGuard recently launched WatchGuard Dimension, a business intelligence and visibility solution.

Corey Nachreiner, Director of Security Strategy at Watchguard explains, “UTMs will log a lot of data as well as a lot of security events happening in the network. A lot of administrators were therefore suffering from a deluge of logs-they have a lot of network appliances that tell them a lot but are not able to get a lot of business intelligence out of all this information. Dimension is thus a zero install cloud-ready solution which is sold as a virtual platform so that a customer can run it in their own private virtualization network or in a public cloud and then point all WatchGuard appliances to it. All the log data will thus go to Dimension with users getting a visibility control switch.”

Dimension, Corey adds, will also allow users to see things like all the biggest trends happening in your network, what programs your users are using, the different domains they are going to, the biggest security events by region and by user among other features. “It’s a very useful visibility tool that is very easy to install as it’s already pre-packaged for you,” he adds.

With virtualization taking hold, WatchGuard’s virtual strategy is taking shape. The Fireware XTM V and XCS V, WatchGuard’s UTM and email and messaging security products respectively now have virtual versions that work on Hyper V and VMWare. “Many customers are adopting cloud services driven entirely by virtualization in the back-end so it helps secure their cloud environment by offering a virtual version of our UTM platform,” said Corey.

Earlier in the year, Sophos had announced the availability of Sophos UTM Connected, which introduces expanded UTM managed endpoint protection with unique Web in Endpoint functionality, broader wireless coverage for large scale wireless deployments and higher performance networking. The introduction of Web in Endpoint functionality lets Sophos UTM go a stage further and make security layers communicate and combine to deliver more effective protection. This approach simplifies user experience and delivers a higher level of overall protection on which customers can rely.

Michael says, “Web helps to minimize attacks that seek to reroute unsuspecting users to infected websites that then install malware. Web blocks this and adds another layer of security (in an  easy way) to all customers that use our UTM products. Customers and partners alike love how we add important security layers in an easy way that just works.

Shahnawaz Sheikh, Regional Director at Dell Sonicwall says that the introduction of Next Generation Firewalls with Generation 6 appliances offered double the power and performance from its previous generation. As lower-midsize companies grow to become upper-midsize and enterprise size, their security needs will get more complex, and they will outgrow their UTM appliances and deploy enterprise network security platforms, such as next-generation firewalls and SWGs (secure web gateways).

He adds, “Today’s security needs are more precisely addressed by Next Generation Firewalls that can delicately balance between the business needs and user needs.  The concept of Next Generation Firewall is an extension of UTM technology where it offers all the functionality of UTM from the perspective of threat protection and offers additional benefits like managing applications granularly and getting the visibility of traffic to better manage the security of the network by proactively monitoring the suspicious traffic.”

“Secondly considering the current trends of mobility, cloud computing and consolidation, the demand for BYOD is also the need of the hour for many organizations.  Historically Email Security was offered on an appliance, as a software and virtual appliance, this year the launch of cloud based Email security offering has given multiple options to our customers who can choose between the premises deployed solutions from the likes of hardware, software or virtual appliance to cloud based solution that eliminates the need for local deployment and management taking away all the pain of hiring the needed expertise and capex based investment,” adds Sheikh.

Over the year, cyberoam enhanced its UTM product line offerings to meet the new-age risks that come with always on apps and usage of high speed internet on a plethora of devices that users bring into networks. Cyberoam launched its NG series UTM appliances and virtual UTMs in ealier part of this year to protect physical and virtual network environments. These solutions provide feature of next generation Firewalls including advanced Application Controls, granular Layer 8 identity-based controls, Web Application Firewall, Advanced Threat Protection, Flexi-Ports with flexible I/O slots complemented with ease of management.

“Cyberoam realizes that network security needs vary with the size of organizations and the industry they belong to. Cyberoam offers future-ready security to SOHO/ROBO, SMEs and Enterprises with its NG Series network security appliances, available as Next-Generation Firewalls and UTMs. Available as hardware and virtual security appliances, they offer next-generation security features to help organizations secure their networks against emerging security risks. Cyberoam Next-Generation Firewalls (NGFW) with Layer 8 Identity-based technology offer actionable intelligence and controls to enterprises that allow complete security controls over L2-L8 for their future-ready security,” says Ravinder Janotra , Regional Sales Manager – Middle East Cyberoam Technologies.

The SMB story

The threat perception from a cyber attack is always real for Businesses and individuals. SMB customers can be as vulnerable as enterprises but a sizeable minority at least of this segment may not always take proactive security measures. They have a need to be provided easy to install and use IT security solutions and are therefore a strong focus for the UTM manufacturers. Further, SMBs may also need to look at deploying the higher grade next generation firewalls than traditional UTMs since they bring application classification and control as an integral feature and will be able to see and filter the rising web application traffic in the age of thriving social media.

However, According to the Risk of an Uncertain Security Strategy study conducted by Ponemon Institute, many small and midsize businesses (SMBs) are potentially putting their organizations at risk because of uncertainty about the state of their security and threats faced from cyber attacks. The senior management is failing to prioritize cyber security, which is preventing them from establishing a strong IT security posture. The research, sponsored by Sophos, also identified that the more senior the position of the decision maker in the business, the more uncertainty there was surrounding the seriousness of the potential threat.

Michael says, “SMBs are being attacked more and are the target of spyware attacks that seek to steal company technology, secrets or interesting data. Other spam and social engineering attacks are targeting more and more SMB’s so that the symbiotic relationship between the company, partners and the end customers is very important. As attacks and their complexity increase, SMB’s need partners or when done by the customer themselves, a solution that is easy to manage, setup and rollout. Users expect transparency in regards to higher security and minimal disruptions in everyday tasks. This means that new solutions need to be implemented that are easy for the user so that acceptance is increased.”

Michael adds “Our solutions are made to be easy, work and get you protected with minimal setup and rollout times. We also make sure that it is easy to manage and use our solutions.”

Like all other regions, businesses in Middle East are highly aware of threat landscape and have evolved to see security as an issue related to business survival says Ravinder. It occupies top slot in their list of priorities. In fact according to IDC the Middle East IT security and appliance market is anticipated to grow at CAGR of more than 34% between 2010 and 2013.

Ravinder says, “Security awareness and sensitivity amongst SMBs has been increasing and they are willing to invest in security. SMBs can look at security solutions like UTM appliances, Next-Generation Firewalls offering integrated security over single platform to protect their networks which helps them reduce OpEx and CapEx in comparison with use of multiple point network security solutions.”

SMB organizations now have enough possible choices when it comes to choosing solutions that are enterprise class and scalable, opines Shahnawaz.

Dell Sonicwall’s Shahnawaz adds, “In my opinion the SMB segment is well served from a technology perspective as most technologies cater to SMB needs; even the new technologies targeted towards enterprise customers, in a matter of time gets available for SMB customers. BYOD is one of such good examples.  Most SMB customers understand the importance of securing their assets from Internet threats and hence they look for security systems that can enable their businesses and offer business continuity during crises.”

Looking ahead

According to industry reports, customers are rapidly adopting the Next Gen Firewalls given the need for granular application intelligence and visualization.

“There is an ongoing approach to educate the customers about the benefits of the next best technology to what they invested few years ago and the growing demand for BYOD solutions keeps our focus on products and services that are needed by masses,” comments Shahnawaz.

As scenarios become more challenging, customers will need quick to deploy solutions and some will look for those arrangements from a new breed of Managed service providers. Cloud versions will find more adoption but shipments of appliances will also rise. Replacement of UTM by cloud options will remain at less than 5% through 2016 according to Gartner however, by then, most UTM devices will leverage cloud-assisted security and management features.

Michael says, “Proactive and intelligent systems that are easy to configure, manage and rollout will be key (and needed) in every security strategy to decrease disruptions and daily business. Partners continue to be a very important key to the successful security strategy and implementation of customers. MSP’s (Managed Security Providers) will become more important to SMB customers as attacks continue to increase in both complexity and damage to business by disruptions. MSPs will help smaller customers with no security staff budget to increase security posture and additional consulting and design help going forward.”

The security market is headed steadily towards high growth curve.  Businesses in MEA will choose to invest wisely and enough invest in IT Security driven by dynamic cyber threat landscape and regulatory compliance needs. UTMs and Next generation Firewalls will therefore continue to be one of the focus areas of customers looking to invest in security solutions.