UTM firewall stands for Unified Threat Management and without a doubt, it has a central role to play in your data security management strategy.

UTM explained

 

A Unified Threat Management system is a custom-built hardware device that has the important function of keeping your corporate data safe when plugged into your network. It serves as a security intermediate between your company data, linked to the local network, and malicious hacker attempts, which look for gateways onto your digital assets.

Why is UTM good to use with DaaS?

 

Desktop-as-a-Service (DaaS) is a managed IT service that connects your desktop environment to the cloud via an internet connection. Having a secure and stable corporate network means that you are less at risk of being targeted by hackers and leaving your data exposed in the event of a malicious attack. Making use of this integrated feature in your DaaS plan will help increase your data security by providing you with better monitoring overall.

We have discussed in a lot of detail in previous posts how DaaS can increase the availability and the flexibility of your desktop service with each endpoint device that is connected to the cloud. This certainly improves employee productivity which ultimately boosts profits and leads to quicker scalability with using the service. Nevertheless, more intensive usage of cloud desktops can proportionally increase the chances of hacker attacks and put your data at bigger risk. This can easily be avoided with reliable data protection tools like UTM, which prevents malicious attacks before reaching your network and it keeps your data safe at all times.

Why is UTM a better alternative for your business?

 

Using a UTM instead of traditional Firewall security measures will certainly improve your data security by many folds. A standard firewall hardware appliance is only capable of monitoring the flow of data through the corporate network, whereas UTM has a much wider range of functions. It provides the business an all-around data security solution which that prevents intrusion into the network and data leaks by balancing the entire load of your network.

What are the different features of UTM?

 

Anti-virus protection

 

One of the most beneficial features of UTM is the anti-virus software that comes with it. This solution is built to detect all sorts of phishing attacks prevent them from entering into your desktop environment through your corporate network. Anti-virus software works by storing a vast record of new and old virus threats into the cloud database by recognizing their unique signatures. Once the software detects a threat it alarms and blocks entry into the network. With this feature, you are secured against spyware, Trojans, worms, and some malware attacks.

 

Antimalware

 

Malware is notoriously difficult to detect by traditional Firewall appliances due to the many variations it comes into. UTM devices on the other hand are fully equipped to indicate malware threats, regardless of the type. Your cloud desktop provider has the responsibility to configure and re-configure the UTM system in order to be fully capable of detecting malware before breaking into your network. The way this works is by understanding the operational flows of certain applications and when these are underperforming. UTM sees deviations as a potential threat and alerts the cloud server for possible malware attempts.

Firewall

 

Another useful feature of UTM is a firewall, which is also one of the core functions of the threat management system. Staying on top of your data security requires a good firewall protection tool that is capable of scanning all the data in transit with your corporate network. It should ideally be looking out for all sorts of malicious threats like malware, viruses, spam, and various newly emerged cyberattacks. Firewalls help from spreading the malware onto other networks by creating a block in the end device.

 

Intrusion prevention capability of UTM

 

Intrusion prevention is one of the distinctive features of UTM that improves your data security significantly. It works by looking for recognizable flow patterns within the network which then prevents the exploits that the malicious attacks can cause. Intrusion prevention systems are a real technological breakthrough in data security and they can improve your network protection by consistent monitoring and information capture.

Final words

 

UTM is one of the best data security solutions in the marketplace at the moment without a doubt. It gives customers comprehensive protection against a vast array of malicious attempts thanks to its many different safety features. Apart from Unified Threat Management systems, there are a whole lot of other alternatives such as VPN and Web filtering which can also be integrated into your data security strategy in congruence with UTM. Utilizing cloud desktop services like DaaS, provided by third parties like we-IT, helps you to make use of all of these features at once and gain better security and peace of mind for your business operations.