Blog: Gartner Report: The Future of Information Security is Context Aware and Adaptive

Note the futility of following the static approach to security. Another important issue, probably covered in the report, is the false sense of security that comes from depending on a static security environment.

--Peter

Dear Peter, Does your current intrusion prevention system (IPS) provide you with contextual awareness to ensure you can accurately identify real threats in real-time? In the Gartner report, The Future of Information Security is Context Aware and Adaptive, Neil MacDonald discusses how today's static security infrastructure no longer protects networks against growing dynamic threats and recommends that companies "begin the transformation to context-aware and adaptive security infrastructure now as you replace legacy static security infrastructure, such as firewalls, and Web security gateway and endpoint protection platforms." The report also describes why network security providers must move to contextually aware and adaptive security. Click the link below to download the report: The Future of Information Security is Context Aware and Adaptive The Sourcefire® next-generation IPS not only provides context to vulnerabilities and attacks, but it also adapts to the network in real time. The Sourcefire next-generation IPS provides IT professionals with 100% network visibility and the ability to reduce actionable events by up to 99.99%. Requirements Traditional IPS Sourcefire Next-generation IPS Contextual Network Awareness Static, blindly enforces predefined policies; lacks contextual information to know which events are relevant and which are not Monitors network in real time and collects contextual information regarding the devices, applications, and services deployed to identify and prioritize potential vulnerabilities with speed and accuracy Adaptive Security Closed architecture with a one-size-fits-all approach Open architecture with customized, automated tuning and impact assessment based on real-time network changes Behavior Awareness Unable to detect network behavior Establishes "normal" traffic baselines and detects network anomalies in real time Application Awareness Unable to detect applications Capable of detecting hundreds of applications accessing network resources; provides Policy enforcement Point that enables users to block specific applications Identity Awareness Does not provide identity information, forcing users to manually search for information Enables users to correlate threat, end-point, and network intelligence with user identity information Virtual Security Static security based on physical attributes Extends visibility and security into the far corners of the network through virtual management console and IPS Click here to view the full report ©2010 Sourcefire, Inc. The Gartner Report described above (ID Number:G00200385, 14 May 2010) represents data, research opinion or viewpoints published, as part of a syndicated subscription service available only to clients, by Gartner, Inc., a corporation organized under the laws of the State of Delaware, USA, and its subsidiaries ("Gartner"), and are not representations of fact. Each Gartner Report speaks as of its original publication date (and not as of the date of this research report) and the opinions expressed in the Gartner Reports are subject to change without notice. Gartner is not responsible, nor shall it have any liability, to any reader of this research report for errors, omissions or inadequacies in, or for any interpretations of, or for any calculations based upon data contained in, the Gartner Reports or any excerpts thereof.