US Spends $20B Annually to Make ‘Best-of-Breed’ Cyber Solutions Interoperable

Drew Epperson, vice president for federal engineering at Palo Alto Networks and a 4×24 member, said the lack of integration in cyber technologies causes the federal government to spend about $20 billion annually to procure services that make cyber products interoperable.

Some cyber companies developed cybersecurity platforms that offer integrated features, unified policies and stability, but many government entities still choose “best of breed” products designed to address the latest cyber threats, even if they end up having incompatible solutions, for fear that they will miss out on the most recent cyber capability, Epperson explained in a commentary Federal News Network published.

According to the executive, government buyers no longer have to choose innovation over integration, citing the investment of a few cybersecurity providers on secure access service edge and cloud-native application protection platforms, some of which are available in the market. CNAPP and SASE combine the best-of-breed and platform approaches, providing users with interoperable cyber tools and the latest cyber capabilities.   

Epperson said best-of-breed integrated cybersecurity platforms could be a game-changer amid the growing threat of cyberattacks and a shortage of cybersecurity professionals.