Striking a Delicate IT Security Balance

There are all kinds of pressure being applied to IT security these days, not the least of which is financial. A recent survey of 119 network security specialists attending the Infosecurity 2012 conference that was conducted by Tufin Technologies, a provider of firewall management software, found that managing security isn't getting easier, which naturally creates a lot of opportunity for the channel.

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  Do You Feel Your Organization Is Forcing You to Focus on Cost Savings at the Expense of SecurityAlmost half do, but it's hard to be certain if it's justifiable

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  How Many Security Consoles Does Your Team Manage?One indication of why costs may be out of control

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  How Many Rules Do You Have in Your Average Firewall Rule Base?Another sign that things might be out of control

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  What percentage of your firewall rule base has 'ANY' in one of the fields?This isn't a good sign either

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  What Percentage of Your Security Budget Is Spent on Compliance Issues That Don't Really Improve Security?Another source of increasing budget frustration

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  How often does your company conduct a firewall audit?No clear consistency in approach

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  What Percentage of Your Rule Base is Obsolete?More than it should be

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  Have you, or any of your colleagues, ever been asked to make a rule/configuration change against your better judgment?Lots of internal debate is the only consistent rule

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  Are You Considering Move to Continuous Compliance in Response to New Legislation such as the EU Data Directive on Privacy?This will become a bigger issue

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  Are You Planning on Deploying Next-Generation Firewalls such as Palo Alto Networks?Almost Half Plan on It.