Email Security and Content Filtering - SC Magazine September 2012

SC Magazine has reviewed a dozen email security and content filtering tools in their September issue.  Their picks?  McAfee email protection received the  Best Buy designation.  Clearswift Secure email Gateway received their Recommended designation.  The fewest number of stars for Overall Rating was given to Trend Micro for their Trend Micro InterScan Messaging Security product.The fewest number of stars for Overall Rating was given to Trend Micro for their Trend Micro InterScan Messaging Security product. Three stars.

Companies whose products received an overall rating of five stars: Axway Mailgate SC, Cisco email Security Appliance, Clearswift  SECURE email Gateway, McAfee email Protection, WatchGuard Technologies SCS 570.

Others in the group test were - Barracuda Spam & Virus Firewall, DataMotion SecureMail Gateway, Echoworx Encrypted Mail Gateway, Fortinet FortiMail, Halon Security Virtual Spam Prevention,  Titus Message Classification, Trend Micro InterScan Messaging Security.

Individuals unfamiliar with SC Magazine’s group test need to realize that these are not round-ups.  The products aren’t pitted against one another and then given some weighted average score (such as with the Forrester Wave).  Think of the products as  being evaluated in silos for features, ease of use, performance, documentation, support, value for money, and overall rating.    

One quibble about the SC Magazine Group Test. They need to be tougher with the vendors on pricing data.  All vendors should have to briefly describe their pricing model, whether it’s tiered, and whether it includes support (and if so, whether other levels are purchased).  SC Magazine should also specify a number of users for which they want the pricing information.  This will enable the reader to better compare the vendors.

The SC Group tests aren’t meant to provide an exhaustive 6-month evaluation of the products, putting them through their paces.  It’s nonetheless a useful set of data points.

A half dozen of the companies in the SC Magazine Group Test are also in the 2012  August Gartner Magic Quadrant for Secure email Gateways document, including McAfee and Cisco. Both of whom are among the Leaders.  McAfee isn't   in the upper most right hand corner of the quadrant.

How Do You Use the Gartner Magic Quadrant?

According to Gartner - Clients use Magic Quadrants as a first step to understanding the technology providers they might consider for a specific investment opportunity.

Keep in mind that focusing on the leaders' quadrant isn't always the best course of action.  There are good reasons to consider market challengers.  And a niche player may support your needs better than a market leader.  It all depends on how the provider aligns with your business goals.

http://www.gartner.com/technology/research/methodologies/research_mq.jsp

Two documents from Gartner that you  may want to purchase “Assessing Secure Web Gateway Technologies”, published in August (ID:  G00231775) and “Gartner Magic Quadrant for Secure email Gateways (ID:  G00231775).  The latter may be available from vendors that are included in the analysis.

You may also want to purchase Forrester’s document, “Market Overview: Content Security, Q3 2011”.

To access the group test  -

http://www.scmagazine.com/email-security--content-filtering/grouptest/273/ 

Gartner Magic Quadrant for Secure Web Gateways - May 2012

Gartner released its Magic Quadrant for Secure Web Gateways on May 24    ID:G00234572.  You can’t say that there was a clear winner among the companies in the Leaders Quadrant.  Zscaler remained the highest ranked with respect to Completeness of Vision, and Cisco from the perspective of Ability to Execute.  Websense and Blue Coat were sandwiched in between with McAfee also in the Leaders Quadrant.  

Among the usual suspects, Webroot was dropped from the grid (must meet those revenue thresholds, people) and M86 Security is now part of Trustwave.  Barracuda is now in a more favorable position than Trend  Micro in the Challengers part of the quadrant.  Overall, though, there  wasn’t a lot of movement between the companies represented on the Quadrant.  

Companies evaluating alternatives  should look at the report for the Strengths and Cautions highlighted by Gartner.  It’s also interesting  to look at the previous year’s report,   to see whether vendors you’re evaluating dealt with any of the Cautions Gartner brought up for vendors you may have  under evaluation. 

According to Gartner, The market is  led by  on-premises solutions with 87% of the market with SWG as a service representing the remainder.  Gartner  see’s  the SaaS alternative growing at 35% in fiscal 2012.

Next Generation Firewalls (NGFW) from companies such as  SonicWall and Palo Alto Networks were not included in the reports,  as these are primarily firewalls.  People interested in the growing evolution of this technology and SWG’s, should acquire the Gartner Report  "Next-Generation Firewalls and Secure Web Gateways Will Not Converge Before 2015,"  ID Number: G00212272.  Palo Alto Networks   positions  their NGFW solutions  as making the need to acquire a secure web gateway unnecessary. Unrelated side note - There have to be discussions by Palo Alto Networks people and the "smartest guys in the room" about their pending IPO (Initial Public Offering) after the recent Facebook IPO. Predictions - there will be a Harvard Business School case study and the phrases "pop" and "money on the table" will appear in a lot more articles on future IPOs.

How Do You Use A Gartner Magic Quadrant?

The below is from a Research Methodologies piece  on utilizing Magic Quadrants.  Too often,  a pic of the quadrant will make its way onto a slide deck with no explanation. 

 

Clients use Magic Quadrants as a first step to understanding the technology providers they might consider for a specific investment opportunity.Keep in mind that focusing on the leaders' quadrant isn't always the best course of action.  There are good reasons to consider market challengers.  And a niche player may support your needs better than a market leader.  It all depends on how the provider aligns with your business goals.

http://www.gartner.com/technology/research/methodologies/research_mq.jsp

 

Those wanting a full copy of the report can go to Gartner or register with vendors such as Zscaler for read access to the report. Let the issuing of press releases begin. 

 http://www.zscaler.com/Gartner-Magic-Quadrant-Secure-Web-Gateway.html?src=WEB_HOME

 

HP Ships Virus-Infected Flash Card with ProCurve Switch - PC Market Share Data

Hewlett Packard shipped ProCurve switches with a virus-infected compact flash card that could compromise a personal computer, according to articles published last week. Hewlett-Packard released a statement that said it had "corrected potential security vulnerability."

This is kind of a “whoops” for a company the size of Hewlett-Packard that has a major investment in security. Among their products are network security appliances (the TippingPoint acquisition falls under this group), and firewalls (in the Niche portion of Gartner Magic Quadrant for Enterprise Network Firewalls)> they also offer Intrusion Prevention Systems (IPS) and Threat Management Systems (TMS) (Tipping Point solutions, as well). This isn’t a Meg Whitman problem. It probably provided a Maalox moment for a few more senior people in the security division.

http://www.crn.com/news/security/232900249/hp-ships-virus-infected-flash-card-with-procurve-switch.htm?cid=nl_crnup

On a more positive note, Gartner has reported that Hewlett Packard was the top PC vendor, with 15.31 million units shipped during Q1 2012. Shipments improved 3.5% year over year to 17.2%. Lenovo was second with a 13.1% market share, up 28.0% year over year. This could be a sign that HP has made the right decision by choosing not to shed the personal computer division.

Juniper Networks Slaps Patent Suite on Palo Alto Networks - December 19

Juniper Networks is suing Palo Alto Networks cofounders Nir Zuk and Yuming Mao for patent infringement. PAN’s cofounders left Juniper in 2005 to start PAN. Zuk and Mao are accused of willful infringement of six patents Juniper Networks acquired when they purchased NetScreen in 2004. If you can’t win in the marketplace, see if there’s some way to gain a win in the courtroom. Whether this will delay an IPO (initial public offering)by Palo Alto Networks is hard to tell.

http://www.crn.com/news/networking/232300802/juniper-slaps-patent-suit-on-palo-alto.htm

To borrow heavily from William Congreve, "Hell hath no fury like a company scorned from the Gartner leaders quadrant or feeling violated about patent infringement."


Palo Alto Networks and Check Point Technologies are the only two companies in the Leaders quadrant in the December 14, 2011 Gartner Magic Quadrant for Enterprise Network Firewalls. Juniper Networks is one of four in the Challengers quadrant.


Hewlett-Packard is in a somewhat embarrassing portion of the Niche Players quadrant. Hewlett Packard CEO Meg Whitman may need to have a serious talk with the security group at Hewlett Packard about this. The lower left hand corner is not “coveted”.


There’s a misconception, perhaps foisted upon prospects by vendors, that the only companies to consider purchasing solutions from are in the Leaders quadrant of a Gartner Magic Quadrant. A good document from Gartner to read is “Magic Quadrants and MarketScopes: How Gartner Evaluates Vendors within a Market”. It’s written by Gartner analyst Charles Smulders, ID: G00154752


A few sentences from the document - “To evaluate vendors in the Leaders quadrant only and ignore those in other quadrants is risky and thus discouraged.” Use a Magic Quadrant to narrow your list of choices, but don't base your decision only on the model. Talk to the Gartner analyst who created the research for more details."

http://channelnomics.com/2011/12/19/juniper-lodges-lawsuit-palo-alto/


Read the above sentences to any vendor who flashes a Garner Magic Quadrant from his slide deck during a presentation!