How to ensure network security at branch office

Sunija Rishi, VP, marketing & business development, Nevales Networks

The journey of a large enterprise branching out into a new market (such as city or region) is not too different from that of a small company. The new branch operations of enterprises usually begin on a small scale. Given their high business dependence on Internet, the enterprise-branches need protection from security threats from Day 1.

Networks at these branches also need to be optimized and monitored for availability and productive use. Wider network exposure and stronger mobility impose more threats to enterprise networks. All these require higher security of branch networks.

The Enterprise Security Worries

Increasing complexities in network management and the rising cost of securing network

It is a common misconception that large enterprises have no budget-related challenges and that they do not hesitate incurring a huge CAPEX to fulfil any and every IT requirement. In reality, enterprises are doubly cautious about spending as a smallest miscalculation in procurement may lead to huge costs and/ or wastage of valuable resources.

The rising adoption of cloud computing demonstrates that enterprises prefer a predictable OPEX model to a heavy CAPEX burden. Enterprises opt for a cautious approach when investing in IT at the branch-level and at remote locations. Gartner forecasts that the IT expenses of most enterprises will be 35 per cent more than IT department's budget by 2015.

Branching out to remote locations securely

In this era of economic globalization, enterprises expand gradually and have branches distributed sparsely. It is a big challenge for an enterprise to build easy-to-deploy and easy-to-maintain branches networks at numerous remotely located branches and to facilitate branch network management at less operating costs.

Rapid security implementations at branches

Time is an important element when it comes to implementation. May be you have got an ideal solution, but how much time would be required for its implementation. To acclimatize to the new trend and facilitate employees in branches to access required applications and enhance in line the user experience, the security deployments in branch networks have to be really quick.

Security Management and maintenance

Once the security solution is deployed at the branch locations, their smooth management and maintenance also needs to be streamlined.

Consumerization of IT: The Double-edged Sword for Enterprises

The consumerisation of IT (with concepts like mobile office and BYOD) presents a double-edged sword. With the growing competition there is a greater need to share systems and data with employees, business partners and potential customers. Employees' work styles are changing. Ready access to popular devices and technologies gives consumers and employees a level of convenience and productivity they have never had before.

However, there is a growing dependency on the Internet, exposing the network to various attacks like Denial of Service (DOS), theft of proprietary information, financial fraud, sabotage or system penetration causing breakdown which could even be fatal to the business.

Are traditional perimeter security tools enough to combat the advanced threat scenario?

To protect their networks, many enterprises still rely on traditional perimeter security tools such as firewalls and IPS devices. Although these devices serve an important purpose and are well recommended to be part of a layered security defence, they are not premeditated to handle advanced threats and can actually become the targets of such threats.

Other drawbacks with traditional enterprise solutions are, these are more labour intensive, too many devices are required to be managed and the cost on security goes high when multiple devices have to be managed.

Few Guidelines for efficient branch network security

Access network strategies are crucial

In current virtual enterprise, access to corporate resources must be secure, reliable, and manageable, with consistently enforced policy while simultaneously allowing access from anywhere at any time. This is why access network strategies have become critical to business growth. When IT empowers every remote worker with the full capabilities available at headquarters, the business can easily differentiate itself and directly influence the company's

bottom line.

But remote worker locations must also be controlled and secured as much as the corporate headquarters. Hence work on the network access strategies well. It is well paid off.

Cloud enabled networking solutions make branch security management smooth

Cloud-enabled networking solutions permit IT organizations to radically simplify and reduce the costs of delivering mission-vital network services.

Go for simple solutions

Employees at branch offices are often not tech-savvy, and branch offices usually lack onsite IT. So, the security solution opted should be such which requires minimum or no IT expertise at branch site.

Go for solutions which assure rapid deployment at branches

Delayed deployments have their own setbacks. For the branches to be operational in a full-fledged way at the earliest, the deployment period should be less.

Easy management from a single management console

The solution offered should be easy to monitor and manage. Typical remote solutions require multiple consoles for managing remote connectivity and security but it becomes quite complicated to manage. A centralized management console is a better option.

To conclude, enterprises have to equip their branches well to combat the security challenges because at the end it is not just the remote branch which can be a victim of threat but the entire organization can become vulnerable to threats owing to a small loophole in the security bracket!