Cato Networks Adds IPS Service

Software-defined wide area networks (SD-WANs) have significantly transformed how a wide range of network and security services are delivered to the branch office. They have also significantly altered who is being asked to deliver those services, thanks to the rise of managed service providers (MSPs) leveraging SD-WAN platforms to deliver a comprehensive suite of tightly integrated services.

Cato Networks, a provider of a managed SD-WAN services, today announced it is extending the reach of those services to now include an intrusion prevention system (IPS) offering.

Dave Greenfield, secure networking evangelist for Cato Networks, says the IPS service complements the company’s existing portfolio of networking and security services that include web application firewalls as well as wide area network (WAN) optimization services.

“All the services we provide are fully converged,” says Greenfield.

The IPS service adds to that portfolio by leveraging the cloud platform developed by Cato Networks to maintain and update IPS signatures in real time. That centralization of access also makes it possible for Cato Networks to apply behavioral analytics to identify anomalies that might be indicative of suspicious activity on the network.

Other attributes of the IPS service include the ability to apply policies to specific applications, integration with Microsoft Active Directory, the ability to launch DNS queries to enhance security forensics, client and agent fingerprinting, file type inspection and domain and IT address inspection.

The rise of SD-WANs certainly makes it simpler for IT organizations to manage distributed network and security services. The next question many of them will need to ask themselves is to what degree they want to spend time on those efforts versus having somebody else provide those services in a way that enables the IT organization to focus its efforts higher up the proverbial application stack.