VA appliance vendors will lead you to believe their products are maintenance free. Don't believe it. These appliances freeze, break, and sometimes become bad network citizens, and thus require human intervention. For the most part, they do not require much attention, but they will fail and they will hiccup. After all, these appliances run their own operating systems and applications. In addition, data backup issues also apply to solutions such as nCircle and Foundstone.
In the event of an error, appliances may be an even bigger headache because they revert to the tools package of their underlying software. A case in point is Foundstone, which is based on Microsoft's SQL Server. While the Foundstone FS1000 product comes with some automated maintenance scripts to simplify installation in the event of an error, architects may find themselves dealing with the complexity of the SQL Server.
At the far end of the operational cost spectrum are software-only solutions. With a software-only solution, the burden of installation and support of the infrastructure falls on the customer. This requires engineers to design and integrate various components, such as the database, the application server, and each scanning engine.
As a result, internal costs are much higher. With eEye, for example, internal costs ranged from $26,700 for a medium-sized installation to $67,500 for the very largest installation. By contrast, all the other architectures came in under $26,000, except for the very largest installations where Foundstone ran $31,800 and Qualys ran $28,050 (see "TCO Analysis Details").
While that's a relatively small amount compared to the overall licensing costs, there are implications on staffing requirements and utilization. In addition, the customer is required to provide the underlying hardware/software for the sensors and management console. Because these systems hold critical vulnerability data, there are extra costs associated with locking down and securing these devices compared to a file or print server. Granted, the actual cost for any specific company will vary depending on cost of labor, skill level of employees, and experience with the product.
To realize the benefits of cloud-native software, an application must actually be cloud-native—designed to run in the cloud, interacting with disaggregated cloud services, fully manageable as code—to deliver the expected benefits.
By combining resources and expertise, the AI-Enabled ICT Workforce Consortium will offer a blueprint for how industries can adapt to an AI-dominated future.
IT leaders should heed the guidance of cybersecurity insurance providers who think businesses should prioritize security education, incident preparedness, regular internal audits, and ongoing vulnerability scanning and patching.
