Cato Cloud to Make Network Security Simple Again

Network Security as a Service will change the way security is delivered, managed, and evolved

Cato Networks (Cato), which is rethinking network security from the ground up and into the Cloud, announced today the launch of its Network Security as a Service (NSaaS) platform. The groundbreaking Cato Cloud makes network security simple and cost-effective for the distributed, Cloud-centric and mobile-first enterprise.

The dissolving perimeter challenges appliance-based network security

For decades, the increasingly distributed enterprise network has stretched IT security resources to protect all business locations, applications, and users. Complicating matters even further is the widespread adoption of Cloud, mobility, bring your own device (BYOD), and the Internet of Things (IoT). This dissolved the perimeter, making network security a hyper-complex task.

With applications and data migrating to the Cloud, traffic patterns on the network are changing dramatically as users access both physical and Cloud resources. Legacy connectivity approaches such as traffic backhauling add latency and negatively impact the user experience for applications like Office 365. Yet, enabling secure Internet access at each branch location is costly and complex to manage.

Gartner analysts Claudio Neiva, Adam Hills and L Akshay identified the following key challenges in the July 2015 report Taking a Pragmatic Approach to Network Security for Midsize Organizations:

• Scarcity of security capability limits the ability of midmarket organizations to achieve a comprehensive assessment of their IT-related risks.
• Cloud computing is growing, and there is a critical need to establish access control, data protection and monitoring for cloud workloads, in addition to improving network security.
• Implementing security solutions, keeping them up to date, managing configuration changes and handling security events are big challenges for midsize organizations, as they require dedicated technical skills to be continually available.
• Many midsize organizations have no choice but to outsource some security operations and monitoring. However the ultimate responsibility for security belongs to the organizations.

According to recent research by Spiceworks Voice of IT program and commissioned by Cato, highlighting networking and security practices of IT professionals, 57% of survey respondents cited maintenance and upgrade costs as burdensome, and 52% said that the complexity of managing policies for multiple locations was challenging.

“Network security appliances did a good job securing the simple networks of the past, but today’s perimeter-less networks are increasingly difficult to manage, optimize, and secure,” said Shlomo Kramer, CEO and co-founder of Cato. “Network security must scale and adapt quickly to support new business requirements and the evolving threat landscape. However, the current appliance-based infrastructure can’t keep up and is too expensive and too complex to sustain, especially for mid-sized and resource-constrained companies. Cato is creating the next chapter in the evolution of network security by unifying the network and security stack in the Cloud, addressing multiple enterprise challenges and use cases with one turnkey, service-based solution.”

Cato Cloud: enterprise-grade and secure network

Cato’s solution addresses the growing challenge of network security cost and complexity for enterprises of all sizes – particularly midmarket organizations. Cato first re-establishes the network perimeter in the Cloud so it is once again simple, and then secures it.

The Cato Cloud connects all enterprise network elements: branch locations, the mobile workforce, and physical and cloud data centers into a global, encrypted, and optimized network in the Cloud. With all traffic, both WAN and Internet, consolidated in the Cloud, Cato applies a set of security services to secure the traffic regardless of source or destination. Through a single Cloud-based management console, IT administrators and managed service providers (MSPs) have full visibility into the organizational network and can apply a unified policy across all users, locations, data, and applications.

“Our business is people and our infrastructure is in the Cloud. We use a variety of Cloud services including Amazon AWS and Salesforce.com,” says Boaz Aviv, CTO and co-founder of Blender, a peer to peer lending company. “Cato allows us to tie our Cloud datacenter, offices, and mobile users into a secure network, and provides secure access to business-critical applications regardless of device or location. Cato also eliminates the need to maintain our existing firewalls or invest in expensive network security and connectivity for our international offices.”

The Cato Cloud is comprised of two complementary layers: the Cato Cloud Network, which is based on a global, geographically distributed network of points of presence (PoPs), and Cato Security Services, a full suite of enterprise-grade network security capabilities delivered through the Cloud, such as a next-gen firewall with application control, global VPN, URL filtering, and more. This integrated platform is managed by Cato’s Network and Security Operations Center, a team of dedicated networking and security experts, to ensure maximum service availability, optimal network performance, and highest level of security for our customers.

“Our customers migrate to the Cloud to cut costs and improve productivity. Cato creates a new opportunity for us to deliver value to our customers using a Cloud-based, network security platform,” said Danny Mizrachi, Chairman at Allegronet. “With Cato, we don’t need to deploy and maintain multiple hardware appliances to deliver a managed network and security service. The Cato Cloud provides customers with a unified, enterprise-grade secure network that we can manage, as a value-add service, and in a cost-effective way”.”

Cato builds a strong foundation for growth with key executive appointments and series A funding 

In addition to launching its new Cato Cloud solution, Cato is strengthening its leadership team with the addition of seasoned sales and channel executive Glenn Esposito as vice president of sales, Americas. In this role, Esposito will direct Cato’s sales and channel efforts for the Americas. He was previously the senior vice president of sales, Americas for Barracuda Networks. Prior to Barracuda, Esposito held sales leadership positions at Purewire (acquired by Barracuda) and CipherTrust (acquired by Secure Computing).

“We see a huge interest from the security channel and service providers in enabling customers to realize the tremendous cost savings and security benefits of the Cato Cloud,” said Esposito. “Cato simplifies the deployment and delivery of network security capabilities so partners can more effectively help customers securely manage their networks and augment their internal team’s capabilities.”

About Cato Networks:

Cato Networks is rethinking network security from the ground up and into the Cloud. The company has developed a revolutionary new Network Security as a Service (NSaaS) platform that will change the way network security is delivered, managed, and evolved for the distributed, Cloud-centric, and mobile-first enterprise. Based in Tel Aviv, Israel, Cato Networks was founded in 2015 by cybersecurity luminary Shlomo Kramer, who previously cofounded Check Point Software Technologies and Imperva, and Gur Shatz, who previously cofounded Incapsula.