The security industry has missed the boat in terms of data-center protection and has suffered from a lack of innovation, says Juniper Networks SVP and GM of security Nawaf Bitar.
He says part of it might be because everybody got caught up with the next-generation firewall wave, but it might also be because these APT style attacks are not in your face.
“When you think about anti-spam, you know you have a problem. If your anti-spam solution isn’t working, you get upset -- your email is clogged. With anti-malware, you actually don’t know you have a problem unless something new happens or something catches it. I wonder if these APT style attacks have been so slow and low that they are not in your face and as such don’t appear to be a pressing problem,” he notes.
According to Verizon’s latest breach report, more than 50% of attacks resulting in breaches are in fact directed outside in.
Bitar says that inside-out use case – the next-generation firewall use case -- is targeted at the campus and is there to protect employees from going on the internet and bringing in new malware. “It’s there to give you visibility into what the employees have been doing and stop them from making virtual burgers on Zynga. These are important use cases, but they don’t help you in a data center.
“I like to say robbers rob banks because that’s where the money is. Those outside-in attacks are coming at your data center because what they want is in there, whether it’s social security numbers, credit card numbers, whether it’s IP, whether they just want to make a statement and DOS you and take you offline. They’re coming at your data center.”
He points to few more noteworthy stats. A recent study found that of 48 anti-virus programs tested against 80 unknown viruses, the catch rate was 5%.