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SMARTPHONE SECURITY When it comes to mobile security, all smartphones and tablets share a common set of challenges: they carry lots of data; they are often riding around in someone’s pocket where they can be easily misplaced; they transfer data over a network that can be intercepted; and they run applications that may or may not be well written. Placing important data on a mobile device where it’s easy to lose, steal, or rootkit offers the same problem as uncontrolled laptops, only worse.
This is the case regardless of the mobile platform. There is a common perception that BlackBerry is more secure than Android or Apple platforms. The reality is that BlackBerry does have more enterprise features and controls such as remote kill, email retention, guaranteed message deliver with application and encryption controls. However, while this is important, a lot of it is just details, and we’ll probably see some leapfrogging between the various mobile vendors as they get bitten and react. Smart devices entering the
workplace represent a combination of opportunity and threat; so organisations must understand the bigger picture of where information rests and flows within the network. The IT network management
environment is only going to become more complex and challenging, both internally and externally – so businesses must ensure that they can see what’s happening at every moment before something happens that they weren’t expecting. Ron Gula CEO Tenable Network Security
8 INFORMATIONAGE APRIL2011
CRYING OUT FOR A STANDARD
Information security is top of the news agenda and has heightened the concerns around a lack of skilled IT workers to meet the specific needs of managing IT risk within business (Defending the nation, Information Age, March 2011). Compounded with the plethora of platforms, devices and social networks now presenting more potential points of failure, it’s understandable that businesses are starting to panic. Proper education is a critical response, but the fact is that
OPEN GOVERNMENT We fully support the coalition government’s plans to create a level playing field for open source software, impose open standards and adopt cloud computing. This is a great step forwards and a recognition that open source provides greater interoperability, flexibility and cost effectiveness. Furthermore Francis Maude
recognises that many projects have failed because they are too large and cumbersome. For example 70% of CRM deployments have failed in the past for similar reasons, whereas open source SugarCRM projects have an 85%+ success rate. This is because the intuitive, open nature of open source software means that it is readily adopted by users. We would like to suggest,
however, that the government also insists on the Open Cloud. The Open Cloud allows the public sector and businesses to choose how they deploy their solutions, whether hosted, in a private cloud or on-premise
to ensure consistency and compliance within companies,
countries and regions. But who should take
numerous standards, qualifications, certificates and exams already exist throughout the industry. The real challenge is to standardise the level and quality of this delivery to create an industry-recognised norm,
behind a firewall, yet with the flexibility to change as their needs change. Neither the government nor businesses should be locked into an application or a specific deployment model. We believe that the future of business is open – open source and Open Cloud. Tom Schuster, General manager SugarCRM Europe
BRIDGING THE CLOUDS Enterprises want the economics and elasticity of cloud computing, but are understandably reluctant to completely abandon their own data centres, or lock themselves into particular cloud architectures. The perception is that, once your environment has been embedded into a service provider’s data centre (a hybrid cloud), it becomes impossible to switch to another service provider in the future without starting over. The answer is cloud-bridging.
responsibility for setting these standards? Again, there are numerous governing bodies who could – and some who should – step up to the plate, but clear direction is vital if the IT security industry is going to produce experts with the right training to protect the UK’s infrastructure and stay one step ahead of the latest threats. Tony Glass Sales director SkillSoft EMEA
A cloud bridge makes hosted applications appear as though they are running within a single, continuous enterprise network and allows administrators and management to interoperate with the application as if it resides within the enterprise network. Applications no longer have to be rearchitected or carved out from the existing data centre environment in order to function properly. The bridge is critical to building a cloud-extended data centre while avoiding the many pitfalls that await a major cloud initiative. Migrated applications can seamlessly use common application services hosted in the enterprise data centre, and reconfiguration or rewiring of the enterprise network is eliminated as a requirement. This simplifies on-boarding but also provides the all-important exit strategy should the customer choose to switch service provider. Damian Saunders, Director, data centre and cloud Citrix
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