RE: Managed Firewall Service - Opinions

[Paul Robertson <proberts () patriot net>]

On Thu, 17 Apr 2003, Paul Stewart wrote:

[Disclaimer:  TruSecure does managed services, and directly 
competes in this area *and* I moderate this list.  ]

> In regards to running your own firewall, if you have an experienced IT
> department that is security anal (sorry, best word I could think of)
> then you should be fine running your own.  If you would rather have a
> team of people look after this equipment and give you peace of mind,
> then outsource in my opinion.

I think those shouldn't be the metrics you use to decide if something 
should or shouldn't be outsourced.  Mostly, it should be a business 
decision which answers the question:

"Can I get the same level, or an increased level of protection and service 
by doing this in-house, or by having someone else do this AND which one 
saves me money?"

The answer is normally "it depends."  That's where an analysis comes in, 
which is probably the next stage of the game once he's got the lay of the 
land.  

Advantages:  Most outsourced providers have 24x7 operations, enforced 
SLAs, a good view of what's hitting all the customers they manage (current 
non-targeted threats), strong processes, detailed product experience.

Disadvantages:  Very little control over who (individual) does the work, 
must extend trust out to a 3rd party, support can be a finger-pointing 
exercise if the vendor isn't big enough or the contract's terms don't have 
a good opt out for service in them, operations are now remote, must extend 
trust out to a 3rd party, must extend trust out to a 3rd party.

Paul
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Paul D. Robertson      "My statements in this message are personal opinions
proberts () patriot net      which may have no basis whatsoever in fact."
probertson () trusecure com Director of Risk Assessment TruSecure Corporation

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