New Juniper Security Features, Integrations Boost Software Opportunity For MSPs

Juniper Networks‘ new security features and deeper integrations with its networking portfolio is giving partners a better story to tell, the vendor told CRN.

Juniper Networks is boosting its security portfolio with two new features and deeper integrations with its networking portfolio.

At the same time, the Santa Clara, Calif.-based vendor‘s combined security and networking approach is opening the door for more software sales for channel partners, Kate Adam, senior director of security product marketing for Juniper Networks, told CRN.

“The new features allow Juniper partners to sell software,” she said. ”It‘s a much easier lift for them and a simpler purchase for customer if they can enable the software on hardware [the customer] has.”

[Related: New Juniper Partner Program Emphasizes Enterprise Push: Exclusive]

The Juniper Connected Security portfolio of solutions now includes Adaptive Threat Profiling for Juniper Advanced Threat Prevention (ATP) Cloud, an integration with device profiling provider WootCloud, and a brand-new VPN application geared to remote use cases, Juniper Secure Connect.

Adaptive Threat Profiling for ATP Cloud -- Juniper‘s threat intelligence hub -- automatically builds security intelligence threat feeds based on who and what is currently attacking the network and who the attack is targeting, Juniper said. The latest feature taps Juniper Security Services to classify traffic based on the operating system of the endpoint and can create custom threat intelligence feeds for security teams or MSPs, Adam said.

Adaptive Threat Profiling streams can be fed into existing security policies within the businesses‘ IT environments. The software-based feature can work along with Juniper’s SRX Series firewalls, which can act as sensors throughout the network on tap ports to identify issues and mobilize protections in real-time, the company said.

"We have a lot of companies using our SRXs as a basic firewall. Even if all the security capabilities are not enabled, we can send the threat feed down to SRXs to quickly block," Adam said. "This allows customers to get value out of what's already been deployed."

Juniper also revealed a deeper partnership with its technology partner WootCloud, a device profiling startup. WootCloud's HyperContext, an agent-less, device focused, network segmentation, access control and threat response platform, now integrates with Juniper's SRX Series firewall family, ATP Cloud and Juniper Mist Cloud. The combination offers delivers device fingerprinting, threat detection and automated micro-segmentation and access control to expand visibility for security teams, the company said.

"By bringing these product sets together, we can now do risk-based access control for our customers," Adam said. "Any device that is connecting to the Mist AP or directly into a switch, we can look at what is going on with that device, send the information to WootCloud, which can let us know what kind of device it is -- like an IoT device -- what OS it's running, and if there's a user associated with it via our new VPN application."

Juniper Secure Connect, the vendor's new VPN application, provides a secure, remote connection to the network, regardless of a user's location or device. The offering is especially critical as more employees work from home as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, Adam said.

The latest, software-based VPN application better supports "the new normal" because it can be extended directly from Juniper's SRX line without additional hardware, Adam said. "One of the main elements of Secure Connect is user experience. Our customers are now even more time and resource-constrained than they were before. Allowing them to configure and apply policy very easily in the [user interface] is really key."

Juniper Secure Connect works alongside Juniper SD-WAN and WAN Assurance by Mist AI, the company said.

For Juniper partners, the native integration between Juniper's security portfolio and third-party vendors makes for a better solution from a sales perspective, Adam said. "Rip and replace is very costly. Building a better network is about using what you have, enabling visibility you already have in place, and being able to do that with software with a simple licensing key is helping customers get more with what they already have in place," she said.

Juniper's Connected Security strategy is about bringing security and the network closer together, Adam said.

"It made sense to us to change our odds against attackers to take security where it's been traditionally placed and extend those out to the routing and switching infrastructure."