Top FAQs from CxOs | 2022 Winter Release Edition

Just over a week ago, Axis launched its biggest product release of all time. The response has been tremendous and prospects and customers alike are continuing to inquire about the 2022 Atmos Winter Release. Maybe you have questions too, if so, check out the top FAQs from CxOs we received in the last week:

What new security innovations did Axis choose to focus on and what risks do they help mitigate?

Insider threats: Atmos’ new RBAC controls provide strong privileged account management whilst the new DLP controls ensure sensitive business data cannot be uploaded or downloaded to locations where it should not be whilst providing visibility into those events.

Ransomware prevention: Malware scanning protects your business from internet-based threats by ensuring malicious files are detected, blocked, and never placed onto the network. It should be noted that phishing emails are the most prevalently used trojan for malware and ransomware attacks.

Compliance: Unified DLP across all private and external traffic provides critical data protection capabilities. The new features allow security administrators to store data locally, in the country of origin, and even broker traffic in the country of origin. We offer visibility into the entire fleet of end-user laptops and smartphones and provide vital telemetry data to determine overall device compliance within the organization.

What are some of the essential capabilities customers should be looking for when considering SSE solutions?

Leading SSE platforms should have integrated  ZTNA, SWG, CASB, and Digital Experience Monitoring baked into the SSE platform. Our Atmos platform is unique in ensuring that every SSE PoP has the ability to house all of those components.

Look for a platform that has only one master policy for all applications and devices and not separate policies, within multiple different UIs. For example, separate ZTNA UI, SWG UI, CASB UI, and DEM UI. Having multiple UI across a platform creates complexity and leads to unnecessary work.

Ensure no applications are left behind when you move to an SSE vendor. It’s important that an SSE solution can support all ports and protocols, even AS400, VOIP, and ICMP (with an agent deployed on the device). For agentless, core services like SSH, RDP, Git, and DB should be supported. These are extremely common protocols used by remote developers, contractors, and third-party users. Also, they should have full inspection capabilities for all of this traffic – both private (client to server, server to client, and server to server), and external (internet and SaaS apps).

It’s critical that every SSE platform use a combination of telemetry, public PoPs, and local pops, and they should automatically select the fastest path, provide redundancy, and provide automatic failover in the event that a public cloud provider goes down (i.e. AWS or Azure). 

Look for robust support for both agent-based access, and agentless access. There are several use cases that can only be solved by having both capabilities such as 3rd party and contractor access or M&A.

What is Axis hearing from customers on what they need for networking and security in today’s environment?

We often hear that they need a solution that delivers immediate value from day one, and is simple to implement. For most companies, that means starting with ZTNA as the first step in their SSE journey. Customers want to consolidate the number of solutions they use for access so they are looking for a solution that helps them achieve this goal. They want multiple technologies and features in a single tool that is easy and simple to use.

They want their problems solved and don’t just want to be alerted of new problems. Some of the immediate problems are: Replacing VPN/VDI, reducing spending on MPLS for remote user traffic, reducing spending on MPLS for branch office connections, expediting M&A or divestitures IT processes, and providing visibility via digital experience monitoring. They want all of these things in a single platform.

Is Axis partnering with any other vendors to deploy its Network as a Service (NaaS) and SSE solutions?

Atmos by Axis runs on the global backbones of AWS, Azure, Google, and Oracle, so absolutely. Axis also partners with an amazing company that provides a catalog for over 7,500 SaaS applications. This catalog allows Atmos customers to easily define new SaaS applications and add them to the Atmos policy in just seconds.

For endpoint security, Axis partners with CrowdStrike, Microsoft, and OS query to pull in important device posture telemetry. For Identity, Axis supports all common IDPs and has an in-depth partnership with Ping Identity. Axis is even exploring an OT network segmentation partnership where we provide remote technician access, and the partner secures customer OT environments (SCADA applications that house info for heating, gas, electric, water, etc. in factories).

In addition to the array of in-depth partnerships, Axis just became the only SSE vendor that supports Microsoft Managed Desktops – a managed service that Microsoft provides for customer endpoints.

If you still have questions about the 2022 Atmos Winter Release? Ask me directly at jaye.tillson@axissecurity.com. Would be happy to grab a coffee and answer any of your questions.