Avaya combines stealth, hyper-segmentation and elasticity to protect networks

Source: Avaya infographic. Employee email and wireless connections tie for first place in network security vulnerabilities.

Avaya is announcing a new approach to network security that helps reduce the number of breaches that compromise data integrity and privacy. The new approach enables organisations to create stealth, hyper-segments within their networks that are invisible to hackers and provide the elasticity to protect the everywhere perimeter.

While trends such as mobility, the Internet of Things (IoT) and cloud computing promise incalculable opportunities, Avaya notes that they make it nearly impossible to determine the location of an organisation’s boundaries. This makes it critical to embed security as a core component of the network architecture in such a way that it is capable of protecting any potential access point - whether it is in the cloud, a mobile device or a sensor unit in a heating, ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC) system.

Hyper-segmentation — the ability to create secure “swim lanes” within the overall network based on a particular function, location or service — offers a means of addressing security breaches by limiting how far a hacker can go once they gain access. But, while IT professionals agree that end-to-end segmentation is essential for security, few currently deploy such a strategy for various reasons, including saying that it is too complex, too resource-intensive or that they do not believe it is possible.

Avaya Networking offers a different approach to securing the “everywhere perimeter”:

· Hyper-segmentation: The ability to create stealth segments that span the entire network.
· Native stealth: The characteristic of a hyper-segment that is invisible to hackers.
· Automated elasticity: The capability to create and remove hyper-segments automatically.

Avaya’s capabilities start at the foundational layer — a shared control plane — to automatically manage hyper-segments seamlessly and invisibly across the organisation. Avaya software-defined networking (SDN) and identity technologies eliminate the tradeoff between security and complexity by automating the onboarding and access of devices, users, switches, and servers.

The Avaya solutions which contribute to the new security approach include:

· Fabric Connect, Fabric Attach, and Fabric Extend (software feature on Avaya Switches)
· Identity Engines (network access software)
· Open Networking Adapter (open server software on a pocket-sized appliance)
· SDN Controller (software delivered on a server bundled with Avaya Fabric Orchestrator)
· WLAN 9100 (wireless controller software delivered on Avaya access points)
· Deployment and management services

“End-to-end network segmentation has been possible for some time; however, the likely reason that most organisations have not implemented is that its arduous nature made it impractical. Avaya is putting forward a technology that should allow organisations to actually be able to implement and maintain the technology and work within their current staffing envelope,” said Mike Fratto, Research Director, Business Technology and Software, Current Analysis.

“As the number of network security breaches reach staggering proportions* - an increase of 38% in just the past year alone - hackers seem to be just one step ahead of the latest security technologies. Avaya’s approach to network security begins at the core and extends wherever the business needs it to be. Our hyper-segmentation, native stealth and automated elasticity capabilities creates safety zones that hackers can’t see, and therefore won’t be able to access,” said Marc Randall, Senior VP and GM, Avaya Networking.

Interested?

Watch the Avaya video on the everywhere perimeter

View the complete infographic (PDF)

*The 2015 Cost of Cyber Crime report indicates that cybercrime costs US companies an annual average of US$15.4 million/year, and were seeing an average of 160 successful cyber attacks per week. Ponemon Institute, October 2015. Read the TechTrade Asia blog post about the cost of cybercrime in the Asia Pacific region