But particularly for small and medium-size businesses (SMBs), combating these risks is a bigger challenge since they lack the technical expertise and financial budgets.

"Typically, it's very rare to find IT security expertise in SMBs given that many do not even have an IT department, while some outsource the IT function or delegate day-to-day administration to a non-technical staff who takes it on top of his or her job scope," says Ang Ah Sin, Trend Micro's regional marketing manager for Asia South.

Several security vendors today offer "all-in-one" hardware and software products, which typically comprise features such as firewall, intrusion detection systems (IDS), VPN and antivirus protection. These integrated single-box software suites or security appliances are said to offer enterprise-class capabilities but are yet simple to deploy and manage.

Compared to integrated products, purpose-built boxes "may be too complex and expensive to be practical for SMBs", Ang says. The value proposition of single-box offerings is, therefore, attractive because SMBS now deal with a single supplier instead of multiple vendors or integrators.

Lawrence Loh, senior regional product marketing manager for Symantec's Gateway Security Solutions, agrees, citing ease of use as one reason to buy a multi-function product. Small businesses, he says, save time as they do not have to worry about managing different vendors' products when they install an integrated appliance designed for simple setup and low maintenance.

"Consolidated protection, convenience and cost are clearly the key advantages of deploying single-box solutions." Lawrence Loh, senior regional product marketing manager, Symantec Gateway Security Solutions

"Consolidated protection, convenience and cost are clearly the key advantages of deploying single-box solutions," he notes.

But do such products offer simplicity at the expense of flexibility?

Charles Cousins, the managing director for Sophos Anti-Virus Asia, thinks so. "It's a good place to get started if an SMB has no solution, but later they will probably want to have a more flexible solution.

"Over time, the SMB will start to face more demands from internal users, the volumes will increase, and there could be problems with upgrading and scalability," he adds.

Ang agrees that upgrading can be a challenge since components in the box are usually fixed. "Unless the appliance is upgradeable, any future expansion can render the appliance obsolete. Upgradeable single-box security software that offers comprehensive protection is preferred since it does not have such limitations. This is provided that the complexity of installation, configuration and maintenance have been removed and taken care of by the software," he says.

Symantec's Loh emphasized that upgrading concerns are addressed in the company's LiveUpdate feature. "Our appliances all use LiveUpdate which enables updates for the products to be sent through without any disruption. There is no difficulty in upgrading only parts of the product as LiveUpdate can upgrade the parts separately," he claims.

Another issue is the fear of a single point of failure. "With a box that does everything, when the power supply fails, everything stops, and the office is 'off the air'," Cousins notes.

Weigh the pros and cons