July 01, 2010
The SC Magazine Awards have been going strong for years now.
Firewalls are again becoming talk of the town. There are an enormous amount of opinions including claims of a recent firewall revolution that have been proposed to completely change the firewall landscape. I will be the first to admit that the features and capabilities offered in today's firewall products are not the same as was offered in their original incarnation. But then again, traffic patterns and applications are not the same as they were when firewalls first hit the market.
There is overwhelming evidence in reports such as the SANS Top Cyber Security Risks and the Verizon Data Breach Investigation Report that web applications are the Achilles' heel of most networks and criminals know it. In order to protect web applications, the network security paradigm has to shift from "Keep People Out" to "What Are They Doing?" and the IT infrastructure spending needs to follow suit.
Data breaches involving privacy information continue to increase despite the costs, embarrassment and negative publicity associated with them.
Over a year ago, IBM began a global conversation about how the planet is becoming smarter with an increasingly instrumented, interconnected and intelligent infrastructure. There is an explosive growth of data that is collected about virtually every aspect of our lives that we can connect and share across billions of devices with built-in intelligence. Our ability to use this data to visualize, control and automate what happens in our environment influences every aspect of our lives from financial transactions, to healthcare, retail, transportation, communications, government and utilities.
In the world of acronyms, information technologists seem to lag behind only government agencies in their ability to create jargon and abbreviations of cryptic concepts. IT-GRC is one member of the IT lingo club. The Information Technology Infrastructure Library, or ITIL, is a fellow acronym gaining more acceptance and popularity within the IT industry. ITIL provides a common framework to formalize a service-oriented management approach within IT and improve interaction between IT and the business.
With the SC Magazine Awards Blog, we're attempting to add thought-provoking subject matter from industry leaders on a wide variety of topics and issues facing the security industry today. Hopefully, these blog posts are providing you additional value and insight into the state of the industry and a forward-looking forum on the challenges we are likely to see in the future.
Consumerization is the use of consumer targeted technology in the work environment. While it may not yet have reached fever pitch, there is a steady and growing awareness of the risks of a new trend in business computing: consumerization.
Organizations must reconsider how they respond to compliance requirements.
Organizations must overcome the "myths" and "inhibitors" around securing web applications.
Deploying an effective endpoint security strategy is essential in a business environment with growing numbers of telecommuters.
Let's face it: Breaches are going to happen. As a result, detection and incident response may actually be more important than prevention.
The stigma attached to the term "hacker" needs to be dropped if computer security advancements are to be made.
Gaining visibility and eliminating latencies while maintaining effective systems and security management can help close off the possibility of a devastating data breach.
Whether it's a bridge closure or a catastrophic flu outbreak, remote access capabilities can help businesses stay afloat during difficult times.
Each year, SC Magazine celebrates the best and brightest leaders of the IT Security industry with the SC Awards. Award finalists have been recognized by the security community for the work they do every day in the trenches to help fight the battle for a more secure enterprise.
