Managed services company IT Specialists (ITS) has launched BlackVault Guardian, a managed firewall service that is offered as part of the BlackVault Managed Recovery Platform solution. Aimed at the “affordable off-site data backup and disaster recovery” market, it is based on ITS’ private cloud platform or a data vaulting appliance stored on-site at the customer’s location.

“Preparing for a network security breach is one of the most pressing concerns in today’s business world,” said Matt Kingswood, UK Head of ITS. “Yet a major shortcoming of many firewall products is that they require businesses to purchase additional modules for complete protection. BlackVault Guardian comes as standard with all the services a business needs.”

BlackVault Guardian's service includes:

• Intrusion detection and prevention (IDS/IPS)
• Deep packet inspection
• Port scanning and protocol inspection
• Perimeter anti-virus and malware blocking

“Network security breaches are not always from outside the company, however,” added Kingswood. “BlackVault Guardian also addresses cybersecurity threats from employees’ activity on the network.”

Through application control functionality and real-time monitoring of each user’s Internet traffic and bandwidth consumption, BlackVault Guardian aim to minimise internal threats to a business’s data and network. The solution also limits non-business Internet usage, allowing organisations to control expenses and manage bandwidth needs.