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The routine of analysts and managers of technology comprises a series of operational and managerial challenges. Allocating the best possible organizational resources and their useful time is essential to fully meet the needs of the sectors in the company. Network infrastructure, management of desktops, notebooks etc, softwares of the most varied types and assets focused on corporate information security. These are just a few examples of activities related to the daily work of a technology analyst.
To increase efficiency at work, these professionals usually opt for the use of varied technological solutions. One such solution is UTM Firewall. It provides numerous benefits to analysts, enabling unified management of security features from an organizational perimeter perspective, including content management, high availability of links, secure remote access, captive portal, and other highly relevant items to ensure corporate security, without overcharging the technology team.
This blog post aims to list the main advantages and benefits that technology professionals will have with the use of UTM firewall. If this content makes sense to you, continue reading.
All in one solution
The acronym UTMrepresents the essence of UTM firewall solutions, since it stands for Unified Threat Management. It is a product that adds several features, enabling complete management of corporate security in a single asset, bringing ease to analysts and technology managers. Firewall Modules, Web proxy, VPN, Failover, IDS, QoS, Captive Portal, Logging are some examples of features found in these solutions.
These resources allow analysts to create structures that minimize the possibility of claims associated with loss or leakage of information (data hijacking), unavailability of the internet resource and visibility on the company’s network/security structure, making it easier to identify gaps in productivity, security and availability.
Visibility on the network structure
Visibility is a major factor for IT analysts. This item becomes very relevant, since it enables the identification of nonconformities, subsidizing corrective actions in order to ensure environments increasingly controlled and adherent to the needs of employees.
UTM Firewall solutions, for the most part, with a wide range of reports and navigation logs. It provides many benefits, such as view of users’ accesses – including: most accessed websites, time spent – about the network structure, use of links, availability of the internet, and all about the security modules present in the UTM.
The analysis of internet usage, focusing on identifying productivity gaps becomes a simple task with UTM firewall solutions. Through the web proxy module and content categorization it is possible to have an overview about the most accessed websites and the time spent with them. With this data in hand, analysts can create rules with the aim of restraining employees’ excess, ensuring productivity in working hours.
UTM firewall solutions also allow analysts to quickly identify problems in equipment, for example, a desktop consuming excessively Internet resource, being able to take action in real-time, preventing this access from slowing down the structure and negatively impacting other sectors of the company.
In addition to the cited example, there are other situations that can be quickly identified and corrected, such as identification of intrusion attempts, attacks with recognized origin, among others.
UTM solutions typically provide a wealth of data and information, structured into dashboards to facilitate event identification. All these items guarantee the essential pillar of information security: team productivity, availability of the internet, and above all, safety. For that, visibility is a vital aspect.
Agile identification of problems in the internet resource
Most companies have their business dependent on the internet. Therefore, the efficient and uninterrupted operation of the resource is essential. Analysts and IT managers are key players in this process, so that the experience with the use of the internet in the company is maintained at appropriate levels.
UTM firewall solutions have features focused on the high availability of internet links. Link features, such as status, latency, and packet loss, are important parameters for good resource management. For companies with more than one internet circuit, the concept of failovercan be applied, allowing automatic change of links in case of unavailability, or latency above the established parameters. With this feature, the administration of internet links becomes a simple task.
The automatic multi-link management feature in UTM firewall solutions uncovers the manual activities performed by IT analysts, which would be necessary if the internet is unavailable or one of the links is at risk, for example. It is worth noting that unavailability or latencies can generate notifications, so that analysts are quickly aware of problems associated with the internet link.
In this way, the entire process becomes automated, without the constant evaluation of the professionals. They also enable a wide range of notifications and alerts, giving analysts confidence about the efficient functioning of the Internet.
Internet usage policy definition
With many threats on the Internet, analysts and IT managers need to develop guidelines, formalizing basic guidelines for the use of the resource in the corporate environment. The main objective of the guidelines is to establish permitted or restricted accesses, according to the standard policy, defined by the company (Permissive/Restrictive).
The definition of guidelines serves as the basis for the construction of the rules in the UTM firewall solution, guaranteeing adherence to what has been described to the daily operations in the organization. The use of UTM solutions is mandatory for analysts to fully implement the guidelines for Internet use.
Secure remote access
Home Officeis becoming more common nowadays. Regardless of where they are working, companies look for qualified and capable employees to perform their functions in a productive and safe way – inside and outside the company.
But for this to be possible, it is necessary to provide secure access to the corporate network of the company. Generally, technology analysts need to make use of VPN solutions to ensure that remote access is done effectively and securely without running the risk of compromising company data.
If you are a technology professional looking for references to help you choose the best UTM firewall solution to make your day-by-day business easier, visit the “10 Tips for Purchasing a Firewall” e-book. This material will certainly help you to define the most appropriate solution.
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