SecureNet provides greater performance that traditional Wide Area Networks or VPNs
Cybersecurity presents threats that no organisation can ignore, and meeting this formidable challenge is becoming increasingly complex. Organisations are seeking to improve performance and mobility without compromising security, but all too often their connectivity services are letting them down.
The use of unsecured Internet connections means that every customer site is exposed and must be secured and protected from attack. The performance guarantees of unsecured Internet connections are also often compromised, because there is little control over what happens once your informaton passes outside of your firewall device.
Here are some of the issues we often see –
- Low or residential grade Internet connections used for business purposes.
- Residential grade service level agreements, response times and restoration targets.
- Incorrectly configured firewall equipment.
- Unmanaged firewalls.
- A lack of redundancy in the network design.
This is what a typical wide area network design looks like.
The Typical Wide Area Network Design
Many customers have been recommended a network configuration that is inherently less secure than it could be. They are then advised to add costly equipment and additional services to try and improve security.
The problem with this approach is that it exposes the customer to unnecessary risk, because every connection at every site needs to be secured with a firewall device, which in turn needs to be updated, monitored and managed to ensure the overall network remains secure.
Worse, the use of standard unsecured Internet connections means that the speed of connections between sites cannot be guaranteed.
There is a better approach – SecureNet, and SecureNet provides greater performance.
SecureNet – Security by Design
With SecureNet, secure private connections are used in place of standard unsecured Internet connections. Each customer site is connected to a secure network where a single managed firewall can secure the entire network from attack. There is no need for costly and complex firewall devices at every customer site – instead more simple routing devices are used with a focus on performance and reliability. As a result, SecureNet provides greater performance than typical VPN wide area network designs.
Customers benefit from the security by design of SecureNet, and are able to decide exactly where and how they allow any form of uncontrolled access. Private connections can be made to private and public cloud services, and to the public Internet, allowing firewall security to be consolidated to the minimum number of necessary locations on the network. This degree of control allows the customer to reduce costs and increase security, and the performance of connectivity is enhanced by eliminating the need to tunnel and encrypt inter-site communications that are no longer exposed to the public Internet.
MSPs benefit by reducing the attack surface of their customers and providing a communications solution that improves performance and control. The MSP can provide a direct connection to Activa DCaaS, to their own private cloud, or to public cloud providers, secure in the knowledge that those connections are never exposed to the public Internet and are inherently private and secure. In short SecureNet provides greater performance for customers and empowers your MSP to stand out from your competitors.
A diagram that illustrates how SecureNet works is shown below.
SecureNet also provides options to accelerate the applications customers use all day every day with high speed Public Cloud connectivity options.
Our approach minimises the risk to the customer, provides better performance, and provides better options to increase the speed of hosted applications and services.
Secure private connections link customer sites together and to a secure hosted network where a single managed firewall protects the entire customer network.
The customer can add dedicated high speed connections to Public Cloud providers such as Microsoft, Amazon and Google, to improve the speed of the applications we all use all day, every day.
SecureNet is inherently more secure and provides better performance, and it also typically costs less than the typical but inferior approach.
If your business relies on a wide area network to connect multiple offices together and to the Internet or hosted systems, consider whether the services you are using are actually the best possible match to your requirements, and whether they are protecting your systems from cybersecurity risks.
Learn more about SecureNet
SecureNet – Security by Design is available in Australia and New Zealand exclusively through partners of Activa Communications.
You can learn more about SecureNet from our product feature page.
You can also learn more about how our Partner Program could benefit your MSP business with wholesale communications and exclusive platforms.