The Crippling Costs of Bloated Perimeter Defense Solutions

As cyber threats continue to evolve in complexity, organizations face growing financial burdens to maintain robust network perimeter defenses. The total cost of implementing and managing these solutions has escalated significantly due to the need for advanced technologies and continuous monitoring. Firewall technology vendors are taking advantage of their position by charging enormous subscription fees for various capabilities and functions that most organizations do not need. Additionally, the expansion of functionality at the firewall makes them more vulnerable. Below we discuss the various cost components and their contributions to overall expenses.

Total Annual Cost of Ownership: $636,710

The cumulative annual cost for maintaining this bloated network perimeter defense amounts to an estimated $636,710 USD, excluding the potential costs of scaling resources, handling incident responses, and training personnel.

Cost Drivers and Industry Trends

Escalating costs are driven by the following factors:
 

Increased Threat Complexity

Cybercriminals are deploying sophisticated tactics, necessitating advanced tools such as ATP, sandboxing, and real-time threat intelligence.
 

Growing Data Volumes

As organizations generate more data, the costs of event management systems and storage solutions rise significantly, as evidenced by the 100GB per day cost for MS Sentinel.
 

Compliance and Regulatory Pressure

Regulatory frameworks mandate heightened security standards, pushing organizations to adopt expensive, high-performance solutions.
 

Skills Shortage

The high demand for skilled cybersecurity professionals adds to costs, particularly in areas like SOC monitoring.

 

While the costs associated with traditional network perimeter defense solutions are substantial and largely out of control, an effective alternative is available. By adopting threat intelligence-driven approaches to proactively defend the network perimeter and understanding that the primary role of a firewall is to delineate the network rather than serve as its sole protector, enterprises can achieve meaningful cost efficiencies. Centripetal’s CleanINTERNET solution enables organizations of all sizes to enhance security while safeguarding critical assets, ensuring regulatory compliance, and preserving customer trust.

 

The High Price of Legacy Security*

Hardware and Initial Capital Investment

$86,311 upfront capital
  • A next generation firewall for a medium sized business incurs an upfront capital outlay of $86,311 which equates to annual costs of approximately $28,000.
  • Additional tools, such as a firewall management platform to streamline and enhance administrative efficiency, costs $11,290 annually.

Licensing and Subscriptions

$35,560 annual costs
  • Advanced features like Advanced Threat Prevention (ATP), URL Filtering, and Sandboxing each contribute to $35,560 annually in costs.
  • Other essential subscriptions include VPN at $23,710, DNS at $23,710, and SD-WAN at $23,710.

Monitoring and Intelligence Services

$180,000 annual costs
  • Threat intelligence tools, such as Autofocus, which enable real-time updates on emerging threats, add annual costs of $35,000.
  • SOC Monitoring Services, essential for managing assets, require a significant investment of $180,000 annually to cover 1000 assets

Data-Driven Event Management

$124,000 annual costs
  • The demand for high-capacity event logging and management solutions is evident with MS Sentinel event management costs. At 100GB per day, this totals annual costs of $124,000.

Specialized Tools and Services

$47,420 annual costs
  • Data Loss Prevention (DLP) technologies that address risks related to sensitive information breaches incur $47,420 in annual costs.
     

*Note: Prices are based on leading vendors list pricing for a typical medium-sized enterprise