Equinix Data Center Hit With $4.5 million Ransomware Attack

By Andrew Neita

Posted On September 11, 2020

Equinix Data Center Hit With $4.5 million Ransomware Attack

One of the world’s largest global data centers has announced an investigation into a ransomware incident. On Sept. 9th, Equinix – which directly connects to AWS, Google Cloud, Azure, Oracle, and AT&T – revealed the inquiry. It’s been a rough few weeks for enterprise organizations and ransomware. Less than a month ago, we saw a thwarted breach of Tesla which could have commanded a massive ransom. Below is an official statement from Equinix.

“Equinix is currently investigating a security incident we detected that involves ransomware on some of our internal systems. Our teams took immediate and decisive action to address the incident, notified law enforcement and are continuing to investigate. Our data centers and our service offerings, including managed services, remain fully operational, and the incident has not affected our ability to support our customers. Note that as most customers operate their own equipment within Equinix data centers, this incident has had no impact on their operations or the data on their equipment at Equinix. The security of the data in our systems is always a top priority and we intend to take all necessary actions, as appropriate, based on the results of our investigation.”

Equinix was reportedly hit with a Netwalker ransomware attack in which attackers asked for $4.5 million, threatening to release stolen data to the public. If 7 days lapse without payment, Equinix will face double the ransom amount. It’s not hard to imagine these guys are scrambling right now, assessing all their options.

From photos released to the public by the hacking group, it seems data centers in Australia were the weak points for the breach. The information stored in those data centers may also be what’s at risk of exposure.

About Equinix

Equinix is a global data center headquartered in Redwood City, California. Leadership of the organization includes CEO Charles Meyers and Founder Jay Adelson. Equinix is a publicly traded company on NASDAQ (EQIX). With revenue hitting $5.5 billion in 2019, Equinix is a major player in the global data center industry.

Learn More About Ransomware

Don’t be the next victim of a ransomware attack. Strong cloud-based sandboxing, frequent firmware updates, & smart network security practices can keep you secure.

Cisco Meraki Z Series: Security & Connectivity for Teleworkers

By Andrew Harmon

Posted On September 1, 2020

Cisco Meraki Z Series: Security & Connectivity for Teleworkers

cisco meraki remote access remote workforce secure remote access telework z-series

Meet the Cisco Meraki Z Series

Unless you’ve been living under a rock for 2020, you’ve probably heard about the massive shift to remote work. While that change is well underway, businesses are still playing catch up to get the right solutions in place for their remote workers’ security and performance. Enter Cisco Meraki Z Series Teleworker Gateways.

Telework is literally this appliance’s middle name, so you know you’re looking at a strong answer. The Z Series combines enterprise-level firewall security with a VPN gateway and a wireless router, all in one compact package. They’re purpose-built to securely extend Meraki’s cloud managed networking to the work from home crowd. Let’s take a closer look at what the Z Series offers to improve your remote work days.

Cisco Meraki Z Series Models

The Cisco Meraki Z Series consists of two hardware models, the Z3 Cloud Managed Teleworker Gateway and the Z3C LTE Teleworker Gateway. The models are virtually the same, except the Z3C offers an additional cellular failover option with an integrated CAT 3 LTE Modem. The first entry in the series, the Cisco Meraki Z1, reached end of sale in July of 2018. Now let’s get more into the specific features you can expect from Z Series Teleworker Gateway appliances.

How Many Devices Can the Z3 Support?

The Cisco Meraki Z3 and Z3C are made for remote workers’ home office setups. Therefore, they support a typical power user’s home network, with a recommended max of 5 devices – also known as clients. Devices can mean desktop computers, laptops, printers, phones, and more.

Cisco Meraki Z3 Tech Specs

Physically, the Cisco Meraki Z3 and Z3C share similar footprints, with the Z3C weighing in a quarter pound more and measuring an inch longer thanks to its internal modem. That of course just means the difference between under a pound and slightly over a pound, so if you have a desk (or table, or shelf, or whatever), you’ll find a spot. Otherwise, their features are identical:

4 wired LAN ports – incl. one 802.3af PoE port, ideal for phones
1 GbE WAN port
1 USB 2.0 port (for 3G/4G failover)
Dual-band 802.11ac Wave 2 WiFi, 2×2 MU-MIMO
Stateful firewall throughput: 100 Mbps
VPN throughput: 50 Mbps

Z Series: In Summary

In case reading tech specs isn’t your thing, allow us to elaborate. When it comes to firewalling, the Z Series has you covered with Cisco Meraki firewall security and solid throughput for a home user. This keeps threats from entering the home office environment. Plus, you can separate work and home traffic for added protection. When it comes to wireless, you get a Wave 2 router with support for up to 4 SSIDs (with guest access) and a data rate up to 1.3 Gbps.

When it comes to remote work connectivity, you get Auto VPN. With Meraki’s self-configuring Auto VPN technology, administrators can deploy network services including VoIP & remote endpoints without needing to walk-through the home user. Your home workers get secure, zero-touch site to site connectivity to HQ and all the apps and files therein. And when it comes to management, you get Cisco Meraki’s single-pane-of-glass, cloud-based dashboard. In addition, there are throughput, connectivity monitoring, & email alerts, plus automatic firmware upgrades & security patches.

How to get the Z Series

First, choose between the Cisco Meraki Z3 and the Z3C if you need the added failover assurance of the internal cellular modem. And then, choose your support subscription length. Then, to get all the management, reporting, firmware updates, support, and zero-touch deployment you can handle, choose your enterprise license. Select a subscription length of 1, 3, 5, 7, or 10 years. And remember, all Cisco Meraki appliances require an active license to operate.

Barracuda CloudGen Firewall – A Walk in the Clouds

By Andrew Harmon

Posted On August 21, 2020

Barracuda CloudGen Firewall – A Walk in the Clouds

barracuda cloudgen f-series firewall brands firewalls

What is a Barracuda CloudGen Firewall?

Barracuda CloudGen Firewalls offer physical, virtual, and cloud-based options to secure networks wherever users are. That means they protect today’s cloud-connected users and their networks beyond the traditional perimeter.

So that’s the simple answer. But what makes CloudGen appliances stand out from the next generation firewall crowd? How about we go over what these firewalls have to offer when it comes to securing networks large and small.

Barracuda CloudGen Firewall Specs

Focusing on the physical, F-series firewalls come sized for just about any business need. Even the smallest of these, the F12, supports a substantial number of concurrent sessions. Starting at 80,000 for that model, the concurrent session count grows into the millions as you reach high-end devices.

Another important thing to note: F-series firewalls feature the same comprehensive security features you’ll count on to stay protected no matter the model. What features you may ask? Here are just a few:

Intrusion Prevention Systems (IPS)
Application control
Dynamic routing
Application-based provider selection
SSL interception to read encrypted traffic
SD-WAN for simple, affordable, secure branch connectivity
Web filtering
Client-to-site and site-to-site VPN to connect your remote workforce

On top of all that, if you’re worried about your firewall supporting resource-intensive tasks, don’t fret. Tasks like sandboxing and more are offloaded seamlessly to the cloud. And with all of these features, getting your protection up and running is a snap too, with zero-touch deployment. We should mention too, that cloud-based and virtual models generally come standard with these very same features.

Barracuda Firewall Models

The Barracuda CloudGen family includes F-series hardware, VF-series virtual, and AWS, Azure, & Google cloud-based firewalls. Options span user counts of 5 to several thousand to protect networks of any size, anywhere. For example, the F-Series starts with the F12 and tops out at the F1000. On top of that, virtual varieties go from VF10 (for 10 IPs) to VF8000 (for an unlimited number). Finally, when navigating cloud-based firewalls, you start at Level 2 and work up to Level 8. And even more finally, choose the PAYG cloud firewall for a time-based, pay as you go model.

Barracuda CloudGen Firewall Price

Barracuda CloudGen firewalls offer a wide variety of security and networking features for competitive prices. For instance, the small business or branch office F12 retails for about $750. As we often say, you’ll want more than just the firewall to optimize your security. In addition to the many above-noted included features, Barracuda offers security services subscriptions on a monthly basis.

These feature options like advanced threat protection, advanced remote access, malware protection and more. In addition to the competitive prices of these services, their monthly nature gives you greater flexibility to make changes based on your evolving needs. All in all, Barracuda CloudGen firewalls have a lot to offer in today’s perimeter-less network environment.

TZ570 and TZ670 Firewalls Join SonicWall SMB Family

By Andrew Harmon

Posted On August 11, 2020

TZ570 and TZ670 Firewalls Join SonicWall SMB Family

network manager SonicWALL sonicwall firewall Sonicwall tz tz570 tz670

Introducing the TZ570 and TZ670

SonicWall’s highly regarded TZ Series firewalls have a couple new additions, with the TZ570 and TZ670 boasting some heavy duty features for SMBs. One major first that security minded organizations should take note of – these are the first desktop devices to offer multi-gigabit malware and ransomware protection. That protection even extends to attacks hiding in TLS 1.3 traffic

The TZ570 and TZ670 are zero-touch enabled, making deployment a snap for novices and experts alike. How easy? The new SonicWall SonicExpress mobile app allows admins to easily onboard TZ firewalls within minutes via an easy 1-2-3 process: simply register, connect and manage.

Connecting the SD-Branch

They also come equipped with SD-Branch capabilities to make securely connecting your offices easy. What capabilities you may ask? Let’s start with the physical. The TZ570 and TZ670 are unique among desktop firewalls as they include multi-gigabit (5/10G) ports. These interfaces allow for connectivity with networking devices like SonicWall Switches, wireless access points, & more. Pretty nifty, eh? But we know network security and connectivity goes beyond physical. And that’s why the SonicOS operating system has been updated to support SD-Branch connectivity.

SonicOS 7.0 features some major updates for admins, including:

Modern user interfaces
Intelligent device views
Advanced security control
Critical networking and management capabilities

This means you get unified visibility and threat detection, all from a single pane of glass.

Next Generation Performance

The TZ570 and TZ670 can reach threat prevention speeds up to 2.5 Gbps, even with all security services on. They allow you to connect and secure up to 1.5 million devices or users — a 900% increase in maximum connections per appliance. For encrypted SSL/TLS connections, these firewalls can secure up to 30,000 concurrent connections with DPI enabled. Oh, and you also get 5G readiness plus wireless options with the TZ570. Come back soon for a more detailed performance overview here on the blog.

Managed Through the Cloud

Manage your TZ570 and TZ670 via the new cloud-native Network Security Manager (NSM) 2.0. The NSM is a completely virtual product that gives you a single, easy-to-use cloud interface for streamlined management, analytics, & reporting. Plus, the NSM features an innovative new user interface and user experience.

A Video Introduction

Meet the TZ570 and TZ670 via our latest Firewall Review video:

Shop TZ570 and TZ670 firewalls

Now that you’ve had a primer, it’s time to shop around. We’ve got you covered with new TZ570 and TZ670 firewalls and security services. Take a look at your options to find the right fit for your network.

What’s the Difference Between the FortiGate 80F & FortiGate 80E?

By Andrew Harmon

Posted On August 5, 2020

What’s the Difference Between the FortiGate 80F & FortiGate 80E?

80e 80f firewall fortigate fortinet

Fortinet’s latest models, the FortiGate 80F and 81F have just launched. With a SoC4 security processor, application-specific chips, and new WAN edge features, the 80F series is another entry in Fortinet’s steady upgrade from the excellent E Series to the faster, even more secure F Series firewalls. The FortiGate 80F follows in the footsteps of the FortiGate 40F, FortiGate 60F, & FortiGate 100F. So what exactly is the difference between FortiGate 80E UTM appliances and the FortiGate 80F next generation firewall?

The FortiGate 80F

FortiGate 80F Tech Specs – Datasheet

Firewall Throughput: 10 Gbps

IPS Throughput: 1.4 Gbps

NGFW Throughput: 1 Gbps

SSL VPN Throughput: 900 Mbps

Concurrent Sessions (TCP): 1,500,000

New Connections per Second: 45,000

Firewall Latency: 4 μs

Not sure what these numbers mean? Check out our post explaining firewall Tech Specs!

FortiGate 80F Overview

The FortiGate 80F brands itself as a secure SD-WAN and security appliance. This focus on the WAN edge is growing more and more popular in the network security space as small businesses and enterprises alike step up to the challenges of digital transformation and remote work. SD-WAN provides secure, direct Internet access for the kinds of cloud-connected applications businesses now depend on like Dropbox, GitHub, Salesforce, Office 365, and more.

Fortinet’s security-driven networking approach focuses on seamless integration, simple deployment, and intuitive, feature-rich management. This is made possible by Fortinet’s SD-WAN Application-Specific Integrated Circuit (ASIC). The first-of-its-kind technology handles identification and steering for over 5,000 known cloud applications.

The FortiGate 80F joins its F-Series brethren as leaders of the SD-WAN race. For any organization looking to deploy applications, devices, or cloud environments across multiple branch locations, the WAN edge efficiency of these models should put them at the top of any shortlist.

The FortiGate 80E

FortiGate 80E Tech Specs – Datasheet

Firewall Throughput: 4 Gbps

IPS Throughput: 450 Mbps

NGFW Throughput: 360 Mbps

SSL VPN Throughput: 200 Mbps

Concurrent Sessions (TCP): 1,300,000

New Connections per Second: 30,000

Firewall Latency: 3 μs

Not sure what these numbers mean? How about another reminder about our post explaining firewall Tech Specs!

FortiGate 80E Overview

The FortiGate 80E is well-recognized in the industry as a powerhouse of network security, fit for most mid-sized businesses and larger branch offices. The FG-80E includes a SoC3 system-on-a-chip build that optimizes processing power and performance without sacrificing security. As part of the Fortinet Security Fabric, the FortiGate 80E integrates multiple layers of security across small business networks, letting systems communicate in real time to detect and stop advanced threats.

The FortiGate 80E is a Unified Threat Management (UTM) platform that delivers wired and wireless networking for networks up to roughly 50 users. This model also comes with variants that boast improved internal storage as well as Power-over-Ethernet capabilities. A USB port located on the rear of the appliance allows for 3G/4G compatibility that allows for additional WAN connectivity and redundancy.

How much does the FortiGate 80F cost?

Pricing for FortiGate 80F starts with an MSRP of $1200 for the Appliance Only model (though Firewalls.com highly discourages buying “appliance only” products as a primary firewall). However, Requesting a Quote or connecting with a Firewalls.com account representative via Live Chat will immediately shave hundreds of dollars off your final price tag.

Compared to the FG-80E, the FortiGate 80F nets you four times the UTM throughput, extra space for site-to-site tunnels, and connection per second gains an order of magnitude greater than E Series counterparts. And don’t forget that whole purpose-build secure SD-WAN, too.

Visit our Fortinet FortiGate 80F/81F page to Request a Quote or Live Chat now.

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