What is unified threat management (UTM)?
Unified threat management is basically a firewall appliance that not only guards against intrusion but also performs content filtering, spam filtering, intrusion detection and antivirus duties traditionally handled by multiple systems. These devices are designed to combat all levels of malicious activity on the computer network. An effective UTM solution delivers a network security platform that comprises robust and fully integrated security and networking functions such as network firewalling, intrusion detection and prevention systems (IDS/IPS) and gateway antivirus (AV) along with other features, such as security management and policy management by group or user. It is designed to protect against next-generation application layer threats and offers a centralized management through a single console, all without impairing the performance of the network.
