Disruption 5: Endpoint Security
Leading vendors: Cisco, ConSentry, Lockdown Networks
Old thinking: Security point solutions from multiple vendors
IT impact: Protect your laptops and defend your entire network by thinking in broader strokes
Our last trend is a real challenge: delivering consolidated endpoint security across the enterprise. You buy single-purpose products that do one or two things well, such as antivirus, firewall, intrusion prevention, policy enforcement, authentication and the like. Trouble is, there is no single product that delivers a complete solution. Meanwhile roaming laptops are coming into your network and spreading infections daily.
Picking among the three current major architectural efforts for endpoint security will consume a good part of your budget and time. Cisco and Microsoft have their own takes on the issue, and an open-standards group called Trusted Computing Group is behind door number three. Cisco focuses more on securing network infrastructure, Microsoft more on desktop remediation, and Trusted Computing Group starts with low-level hardware protection. Before you get behind any approach, take the time to research the differences and decided which vendors implement the pieces of the endpoint puzzle most critical to your business. Right now, no single approach covers all the security bases.
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