Are network security audits a way to save costs, improve performance?

Leading sub-Saharan network security expert, AfricaSD, is advising firms to resist the temptation to cut back on network security and leave themselves exposed to rising levels of cyber-crime and even greater commercial liability. It is, instead, recommending firms reconfigure established architectures to make them more streamlined and cost-effective.

“As more and more businesses bear the brunt of the economic downturn, there is a great temptation to simply cut network security budgets,” confirms Hennie Moolman, Managing Director of AfricaSD: “But this is a dangerous approach when you consider that cyber-crime is growing rapidly, and the types of threats we are seeing are ever more complex and costly.”

Moolman maintains that a better approach is to comprehensively audit current architectures and look at ways of making them more cost-effective, without impairing the levels of protection offered. “We are able to help companies refine their systems to produce optimal performance by performing comprehensive, multi-layered security audits,” explains Moolman, “and then using this insight to re-deploy and reconfigure their defences.”

It is an approach that will generate cost-savings in several ways, as well as significant performance improvements, argues Moolman. “It is not simply about ensuring a company's network security is as operationally cost-efficient as possible,” he maintains. “It is also about significantly reducing the likelihood of breaches happening, which, when you factor in the potential costs from lost data and system downtime, offers firms considerable strategic savings too.”

Companies should also be taking this opportunity to review and refine their network security to make sure they are covered from a regulatory compliance perspective. “With incidents of confidential data theft and costly, reputation-damaging litigation growing year-on-year, it's important for organisations of all sizes to establish exactly how exposed they are and what they should already be doing to minimise their liability,” explains Moolman, “and the essential first step to doing so is to conduct a thorough, independent threat analysis of their entire network.”

Ultimately, Moolman believes this is the only practical approach for companies that are intent on remaining viable during these challenging economic times. “In the end, the economy will bounce back, but a company that has to cover the cost of losing its confidential customer data when its depleted defences were breached might not,” he concludes. “That's why we are urging firms to remain proactively vigilant and, if budgets are tight, to let us help streamline their defences rather than diminish them.”

Organisations interested in finding out more about AfricaSD's comprehensive network security service or its industry-leading range of IT security products, should contact AfricaSD directly on +27 (0)12 665-2513 or visit the company's Web site at http://www.africasd.com.