Micro Tech News
Astaro offers a powerful device with a nice price
February 2, 2009
 In today’s economic climate everyone is looking for greater efficiency in every part of the enterprise. A good place to start is your computer network. In the past only large organizations could afford network monitors but, Astaro has changed that. They are now offering a full range of security devices for small companies with less than ten computers to large ones with thousands of computers.
These devices used to be called firewalls and are placed between your network and the Internet. While they still act as a firewall keeping the rest of the world out of your business, they can also do much more. The process is called deep packet inspection. It means that every tiny bit of information (data packet) that moves though it is examined. The device is very smart and can tell the type of data a packet holds. Examples would be an email, web page, document, audio, video, etc. It is also able to scan these for viruses or other malware. When it finds offending packets it stops them and warns the user. Thus the network stays much more secure because malware never gets into the business network.
Another service provided by these security gateways is called Web Content Management. Because they can recognize a Web address they can also control Web browsing. The control can be configured to be as limited or as open as desired. It can be on a per user and time basis. Users can be organized in groups allowing for much easier configuration. The device has categories of Web sites which are either allowed or blocked. An example would be denying access to shopping on the web during working hours but allowing access during lunch and after work. While another group of users who need fully open access are not restricted.
Spam fills everyone's email boxes unless something is done to block it. Once again the ability to identify different types of data allows the unwanted emails to be blocked before they reach Outlook. The amount of time required to manage all of the unwanted email is greatly reduced, allowing the user to spend time working instead of dealing with unwanted emails.
As more people work remotely, at home or on the road, they need an easy and secure connection to the corporate network. The security gateway offers virtual private network (VPN) services that allow a remote user to connect to the office as if he/she were on site. The user only has to install a preconfigured client on his computer and then access is available over any internet connection.
Intrusion prevention systems (IPS) have been available for several years but generally were so expensive that few companies could afford them. Now the Astaro devices include it as part of the package. An IPS constantly monitors your business network and creates a model of typical network activity. When the monitor detects an anomaly in the network behavior it automatically take action to stop it. In this way a process that may do damage to the network is stopped before it can spread.
If all of this sounds too complicated to manage, it isn’t. After the initial setup, the security gateway typically sends an executive summary report via email every day to each designated person. It is an easy to understand format that allows for a quick snapshot of the previous day’s activities. After a few days it becomes an easy task to understand how your computer network is being used and how many threats to it have been stopped before they became a problem. A smooth running network is the life blood of your organization.
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