Introduction
Cybersecurity specialist Exclusive Networks Africa has announced a strategic partnership with Akamai Technologies, a leading cloud company dedicated to securing and empowering online experiences. This collaboration aims to strengthen Akamai’s presence and impact across the African continent.
Successful Collaboration and Expansion Plans
Stefan van de Giessen, Security & GSI Lead Africa at Exclusive Networks Africa, revealed that the two companies have already collaborated on a significant local project. This initiative involved the successful implementation of a microsegmentation strategy for an African telecommunications group. “After six months of working together on this project, Akamai decided to broaden our partnership and leverage Exclusive Networks Africa’s extensive partner base across East, West, and South Africa, as well as the Indian Ocean Islands and the Southern African Development Community (SADC) region, in line with their strategy. Our joint focus will be on delivering the benefits of microsegmentation to local enterprises, governments, and telecom organizations,” he stated.
Understanding Microsegmentation
Microsegmentation is a software-based security practice that offers several advantages over traditional network or application segmentation methods. Traditional methods rely heavily on network-based controls, which can be cumbersome to manage. In contrast, microsegmentation separates security controls from the underlying infrastructure, providing businesses with the flexibility to extend protection and visibility anywhere.
Benefits of Microsegmentation
Van de Giessen highlighted the critical benefits of microsegmentation, particularly as organizations increasingly adopt cloud services and new deployment options like containers, making traditional perimeter security less relevant. “Microsegmentation, essentially a software-defined network overlay powered by AI intelligence, allows for greater visibility around all assets within the network. This infrastructure visualization simplifies identifying and understanding activity in the environment,” he explained.
Enhanced Security and Control
This approach enables companies to ringfence their applications and servers, defining which ones can communicate with each other. In the event of a ransomware attack, for example, this prevents malware from spreading to other machines within the network due to these strict authorization parameters. The ability to lock down individual devices offers greater control over the blast radius of an attack, a capability that is not possible with traditional firewalls.
Cost and Time Efficiency
Van de Giessen also noted that a software-based microsegmentation solution can be deployed faster and more seamlessly, with significantly less capital expenditure (Capex) compared to purchasing firewall appliances and additional hardware. “Microsegmentation reduces rollout timelines from over a year to just weeks and eliminates the associated downtime, which is often costly. Additionally, the reduced maintenance and management efforts result in lower operating expenses (Opex) over time, saving on labor and resources,” he added.
Future of Cybersecurity with Microsegmentation
While microsegmentation is a relatively new concept for many, it is becoming an increasingly vital tool for IT teams. These teams are tasked with ensuring that security policies and compliance keep pace with the rapid changes in today’s dynamic data centers, cloud, and hybrid cloud environments. Van de Giessen concluded, “Microsegmentation is becoming an essential security tool to meet the challenges of modern IT infrastructure.”
Excitement About the Partnership
Hans Nipshagen, Regional Vice President of Channels and Alliances EMEA at Akamai, expressed his enthusiasm about the partnership. “We are excited to team up with Exclusive Networks and their strong ecosystem of local partners to deliver our microsegmentation services, enhancing cybersecurity for customers across the African markets,” he said.
