Nyansa premieres new Voyance network analytics tools
This week, Nyansa premieres new Voyance network analytics tools, espionage takes off as a security threat and the midmarket struggles with cybersecurity.
The network analytics tools, available now, are geared to hospitals, financial institutions and other enterprises that need to keep close control of their network data.
Customers can run the network analytics tools from either a dedicated appliance on site, or as a virtual machine within its Amazon Web Services (AWS) or Microsoft Azure deployment.
Voyance tracks every transaction conducted through a user's network, then funnels that data to AWS servers, where it is analyzed for performance. That information is then transmitted back to a user's site, where it can be exploited. Voyance monitors both real-time and historical performance, and it provides root cause analysis and remediation actions where appropriate.
Although the network performance data will still be analyzed by Nyansa servers in AWS, no customer data leaves the user's premises.
The private cloud version of Voyance has the same capabilities as the flagship service, said Abe Ankumah, co-founder and CEO of Nyansa, based in Palo Alto, Calif. The only difference is customers now have the option of having an on-premises version of the service that can be deployed in their own private data centers. Although the network performance data will still be analyzed by Nyansa servers in AWS, no customer data leaves the user's premises.
The private version will also include baseline and trending data that customers can use to measure their own network performance against peers. The private cloud deployment model is expected to grow at an annual rate of 40% over the next several years, according to a 2017 MarketsandMarkets' report, eclipsing the $1.1 billion mark by 2020. Pricing begins at $65,000 for up to 250 access points and 2,500 users and includes network analytics and the user application analytics suite.
Verizon: Espionage now most common security threat
Ransomware and phishing attacks continue to plague enterprises, as cybercriminals step up their espionage assaults against corporate and governmental networks. Verizon's 2017 Data Breach Investigations Report (DBIR), released last week, detailed nearly 2,000 breaches, with more than 10% of those espionage-related.
The 10th annual report also found ransomware becoming a more serious issue, with those types of attacks rising 50% in a 12-month period.
"Insights provided in the DBIR are leveling the cybersecurity playing field," said George Fischer, president of Verizon Enterprise Solutions, in a statement. "Our data is giving governments and organizations the information they need to anticipate cyberattacks and more efficiently mitigate cyber-risk."
Among other findings:
Malware continues to proliferate. Fifty-one percent of breaches stemmed from malware, with ransomware the leading form of attack.
Phishing is fundamental. More than 40% of data breaches used phishing, with the technique popular in both cyberespionage and financially driven attacks.
pretexting is gaining steam. Pretexting, where hackers use social media in an attempt to gain privileged information from employees at financial firms, is growing. The Verizon study found that email was the most popular way in which criminals tried to communicate with potential victims.
Study asks how midmarket organizations work toward network security
Midmarket companies are struggling with a "black hole" of expertise, time availability and procurement budgets to respond to cybersecurity threats and manage their cybersecurity products. In a recent survey conducted by 451 Research, 82% of respondents said they spent between 20 and 60 hours of staff resources each week managing these basic cybersecurity functions.
Midmarket companies employ as many as three to five full-time security personnel and spend $178,000 a year on network security alone, which comprises only 39% of the total IT security budget. The cost of cybersecurity for midmarket companies will continue to grow, with network security spending projected to grow about twice as fast as IT security spending as a whole.
The study, commissioned by OPAQ Networks, a security-as-a-service vendor based in Herndon, Va., surveyed 301 IT professionals at U.S. midmarket companies. Other significant findings from the study indicated that data loss prevention, encryption and network access control were the most desired cloud-based security capabilities.
Among cloud-based security use cases, branch-office enablement and threat management ranked as the highest priorities in the survey. More than 60% of respondents cited legacy networking technology as the biggest challenge for visibility and control of their networks. The second leading cause of concern was limited budgets.
"The security challenge for midtier businesses is multidimensional. For these businesses, everything seems to be increasing -- attack frequency, compliance requirements, complexity, costs, and the number of security products that need to be managed," said Daniel Cummins, an analyst at 451 Research, in a statement.
