2017 Enterprise Network Security Trends

In 2016, there seemed to be constant reminders in the news about the latest hack or newest type of attack. As a result, the security market experienced a significant amount of growth. Gartner expects the cybersecurity market to cross $100 billion in 2019 from $76 billion in 2015.

To take advantage of this, numerous point products and solutions flooded the market and everyone seemed to talk about the network and how it needs to be secure. However, even with all the talk, security was and is still often seen as getting in the way of networking, adding too many controls, or slowing the network down. Talking to our network buyer customers, the common concerns that I’ve heard were:

I need to easily control who gets on my network

I don’t know if my network is exposed to threats

I’m not sure how to best respond to threats

Sound familiar?

Looking forward to 2017, these conversations will continue and the number of opportunities and challenges, when it comes to securing the enterprise, will increase. Jeff Reed recently blogged about Networking Trends for 2017 and Kiran Ghodgaonkar blogged last week about Predictions for SD-WAN, and they both mentioned the importance of security. Here is what I think will be important for enterprise network security in 2017 and what organizations can look for to make sure that security is in their DNA:

1. Integrated security

IDC predicts that 1 million new devices will go online every hour by 2020. With the exponential increase in devices and applications, the threat surface area for an organization has expanded beyond traditional means. To reduce risk and complexity, security will need to be embedded within hardware and software solutions, have flexible deployment options, and work with each other to provide integrated multilayered protection. Expect security architectures to be simple, open, and automated so your network has better performance, works with other solutions, and is easier to manage.

2. Need for improved visibility

As a result of the amount of growth experienced by digital organizations, 76% of IT professionals say a lack of visibility is their biggest challenge in addressing network threats (Ponemon Institute). It is becoming more and more important to know what is going on with your network at all times – across all applications, users, and devices. Expect networking and security teams to work more closely and leverage network infrastructure to extend visibility everywhere.

3. Emphasis on analytics

Based on a SANS Institute survey, organizations are using analytics more across the board as part of their security strategy. The type of information you have and the amount of information you have is critical for lowering the time to detection. Sampling data may have helped identify and react to threats in the past, but look for contextual awareness and other proactive and more intelligent ways of gathering deeper insights and data, leading to more accurate detection of anomalous network and user behaviors across the network.

4. Move towards cloud

As organizations look to the cloud to enable their business with benefits like flexibility, simplicity, and scale, cloud security adoption will follow closely behind. This year, expect to see increasing interest in protecting data and applications in the cloud. Cloud-delivered and cloud-administered security solutions are gaining in popularity also. These solutions offer ease and speed of deployment and consistent, simple administration to provide an initial layer of defense.

In summary, just ask yourself this: what can your network do for you to secure your digital organization?

This is my view of the enterprise network security market for 2017. I’d like to hear yours! Comment below or reach out to me on twitter @jasoncliu.