Making unified threat management a key security tool

As data protection becomes critical to businesses, we look at how unified threat management can be a useful tool, providing it is selected and deployed correctly according to business needs.

The 2018 Cybersecurity breaches survey from the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) found that 43% of the 1,519 UK businesses that participated admitted they had experienced a cyber attack or security breach.

Fines for major data breaches may be among the main reasons the industry is pushing unified threat management (UTM), says Peter Wenham, a member of the BCS security community of expertise. The General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) has driven many chief information security officers (CISOs) to reassess their security posture. The new data regulation, which came into force in May 2018, means organisations face fines of up to 4% of global turnover. According to Wenham, UTM systems can help reduce the threats that could lead to a breach.