Great value in being able to manage Internet security in a single place
Network Box USA, Inc., was formed in response to the escalating danger posed by
security breaches, virus attacks and threats arising from widespread use of the Internet.
Their mission is to provide small and medium-sized enterprises with a computer network security solution that is effective yet affordable. The company's flagship product is the Network Box Internet Threat Prevention and Security device. This single, 24/7 remotely managed solution weaves together applications that were once complex and costly into one single hybrid of hardware and software that combats hackers, worms, backdoors and other online menaces.
Name: Pierluigi Stella Age: 46 Position: CTO, Network Box USA (American arm of Network Box Corporation) Education: Master’s degree in electrical engineering from the University of Naples, Polytechnic School of Engineering (Naples, Italy) Presentations: Part of a panel of experts at CUISPA in 2006; presented IP-ATM security whitepaper at CUISPA 2008 Family: Two children Residence: Houston Other interests: books, physical fitness, my children
In the following interview, Pierluigi Stella, CTO, Network Box USA discusses 1:1 with Rake Narang, Editor-n-chief of Info Security Products Guide, how UTMs are gaining wider acceptance and what makes Network Box's UTM solutions different from others.
Rake Narang, Editor-n-Chief - Info Security Products Guide: How have Unified Threat Management products changed over the years? Are enterprises more inclined towards UTM solutions now and what are the key advantages of deploying UTM solutions? Are latency issues still a major concern with UTMs? Pierluigi Stella, CTO - Network Box USA: We are definitely seeing a change in the perception that large enterprises have about UTM appliances. The best-of-breed approach is starting to give in to the ease of management. The TCO of a UTM appliance is certainly a major factor that is attracting enterprises as well. The ability to manage all the Internet security issues in one place allows reducing maintenance time and possibly personnel. Overall, it allows reducing cost. From a technical stand point, companies are now recognizing that certain functions that can be achieved with a UTM cannot actually be achieved with a more traditional multiple-solutions approach. For example, functions such as Network Box’s envelope verification and tarpit technology as a defense against DHAs require a close collaboration between the email scanner and the firewall, which can be achieved only if the two functions are closely integrated.
Latency has never been an issue for the Network Box, which has always displayed very high performance since its inception seven years ago. On the contrary, the Network Box has had, since day one, a technology we call “Zero Latency.” The idea of this technology is that, by having firewall and IDP work together as one, on the same appliance, no single packet can ever pass through undetected. It does not take a “few packets” for the Network Box to detect a threat. It takes just one packet! This is why our product was able to detect the Slammer Worm when it was first caught, without specific signatures, and fully protect all our clients. Conversely, many companies using more traditional (and supposedly more consolidated) technology were vulnerable to that worm. Today, enterprises and the SMB market, which usually follows the direction taken by the bigger companies, are recognizing that there is indeed great value in being able to manage Internet security in a single place.
"UTMs will continue to gain wider acceptance as more and more companies realize the importance and higher ROI of managing most of their security needs from a single place. Network Box's UTM solutions are unique and geared for today's environment while being future-proof for tomorrow's threats too."
Rake Narang, Editor-n-Chief, Info Security Products Guide
Rake Narang: What are the latest products and services provided by Network Box? How are Network Box solutions different from others?
Pierluigi Stella: Network Box is not simply a UTM appliance. It is not “install and forget” technology. We call it a UTM+ solution because with the UTM appliance itself, the Network Box solution includes our patented PUSH technology to actually PUSH updates to the boxes as soon as they are available, to reduce the time between the discovery of the attack and the availability of the protection (signature) on the device. This is not to say that without signatures our customers are not protected. On the contrary, the Network Box features a host of heuristic technologies for IDP, antivirus, and any other malware or threat, that protect our clients even in the absence of a well identified signature.
The Network Box is also different from the competition because it is not simply an appliance, but a fully managed, monitored and updated solution. Our customers do not simply purchase hardware and software. They purchase our services as well. These services include 24/7 monitoring for threats and health, the PUSH updates, management and configuration. The monitoring service runs constant assessments of the threat level for every client, monitoring patterns and attacks. It also checks about 90 points of the box’s health to ensure that everything from hardware to software to signatures is running smoothly. As part of the management services, our network of 22 NOCs around the world, coordinated by our Security Response Center, ensure that software and signatures are always kept up to date. Every Network Box, from the S series to the E series, runs the same software and is capable of the same functions. The Network Box supports advanced routing, true QoS, multiple Internet links, and multiple devices in redundant configuration or cluster. Whether the client is a small office or a large enterprise, the product, the software, LoS and personal commitment of our people are always the same, and always optimum. At Network Box, we strive to ensure that our clients consider us as a natural extension of their own IT team.
Rake Narang: Will the security vendors always be playing a catch-up game with malware? How do you see the security products and services evolving 2-3 years from today?
Pierluigi Stella: I was still in college when the first computer virus came around. About 20 years later we are still playing catch up. The target is an ever moving one, and the security companies are playing a defense role. If the technology is vulnerable, there will always be someone trying to take advantage of that, and there will be a need for security and for companies like Network Box. Technologies such as the Network Box already go a long way in the direction of anticipating the threat rather than just responding to it once it is known. Active, preventive technologies are the true response because they are impervious to any type of attack – for now. The “catch up” we are playing today is not in the defense against threats per se. We can already detect anything that hackers send our way. Rather, the problem today lies in where the threats are coming from and how they are being delivered. We have already seen a shift of new threats from emails to HTTP. We will definitely see a further shift toward instant messaging (hackers have already experimented with instant messaging) and encrypted protocols, mainly HTTPS. So the race is toward protecting these other protocols, extending the protection to every protocol, because any unprotected one will sooner or later become a conduit for new threats.
In the near future the UTM appliances will continue to increase the number of functions they will deliver. We are seeing clients demanding more to solve the issues of controlling what is leaving their company. DLP has become very important, as well as the ability to encrypt data and emails in ways that the destination, but only the destination, can easily decrypt without the need for complex installations. Monitoring what goes through the appliances, with the scope of controlling the network usage, is another area of certain expansion. As technology puts more horsepower at our disposal, the manufactures continue to push more applications into their appliances. Even though many companies are turning their email scanning to “in the cloud” companies, the need for gateway protection is still very real, and even then there is only so much the “in the cloud” companies can do to reduce spam and antivirus. What the future holds is hard to say, but personally I do not see UTM appliances disappearing any time soon. If anything, a wider adoption of these technologies by larger enterprises will ensure a growth of their popularity among the smaller companies as well.
All About Network Box USA, Inc. Head Office Address: Hong Kong Founded in: 2000 CEO: Michael Gazeley Public or Private: Private Investors: Undisclosed Number of Employees: about 100 Products: Network Box Company’s Goals: To be a leader in the field of managed security appliances Recent Awards Won: C3 Expo Best of Show; Linux Pilot Editor's Choice; PC3 Magazine’s Best of the Best and Editor’s Choice; APICTA (Asia Pacific Information and Communications Technology Awards); ZDNet Australia Editor's Choice; and the Hong Kong Computer Society’s IT Excellence Award
