Security

The outbreak of potential data breach reports in the UK prompts obvious and inevitable questions: How can these things happen in the first place? How many more times is personal information lost without anyones acknowledgement and, some would argue most importantly, what can be done to secure the corporate defences? ... read more..

We hear a great deal about the efficiencies of mobile working, as well as the environmental benefits. Sadly, we also hear a great deal about the vulnerabilities of mobile technologies, especially in terms of data protection. Too often and once is already too often as far as the people ... read more..

2010 will be the year of ongoing change. Further adoption of cloud, social media and virtualisation technologies will continue to blur the network parameter, while new cybercriminal methods such as ransomware and crime-as-a-service will lure in unsuspecting users and threaten the enterprise at large. Security postures must move from a ... read more..

As the CTO of a data protection and encryption company I hear many a tale of woe as other CTOs and CEOs confess to me the stories of how various laptops within their companies have gone astray and the destruction these lost laptops have caused in their wake. With this ... read more..

Choosing the Right Reader With a wide variety of reader technologies to choose from, its important to ensure that the technology selected properly balances risk, cost, and convenience factors. Prox technology is a viable choice, especially for sites where there are existing Prox cards in use, but contactless smart cards represent ... read more..

There is little doubt that despite the apparent signs of recovery throughout the UK, for most in IT the future will be challenging. 2009 has been a very challenging year The general theme from our discussions with NCC members is that they remain under huge pressure to change; delivering more ... read more..

Cloud Industry Forum (CIF) to set the standardTop technology leaders have come together to develop a Code of Conduct to help provide understanding and manage users expectations of cloud suppliers.A newly formed self-regulatory body called the Cloud Industry Forum (CIF), a sub-group of FAST and Investors in Software (FAST IiS), ... read more..

Ian Kilpatrick of Wick Hill Group discusses how the latest botnet threats are evolving and offers some suggestions as to how you can protect against them.Over the last year, the incidence of botnet (or zombie) attacks has been growing rapidly. Some service providers around the world have already begun to ... read more..

Building trust between IT and FinanceIn most organisations the economic decision maker for large scale IT purchases is the Finance Director/CFO or Board of Directors of which they are part. However, despite this, there is a lack of understanding between IT and the finance function (www.pwc.co.uk/pdf/best_of_enemies.pdf). The National Computing Centre ... read more..

To be successful, todays business needs to strike a balance between cost-efficiencies, keeping a productive workforce motivated and ensuring that they are mindful of corporate and legislative compliance. However, the way that organisations interact, work and do business has taken on a collaborative nature which has to fit in with ... read more..

In November Microsoft released a beta version of SharePoint 2010. This is the fourth version of SharePoint, and the product is showing its maturity with a lot of improvements from the 2007 version. Indeed, whether or not you currently have SharePoint, 2010 is worth a serious look, and in this ... read more..

Businesses today face more data security threats than ever before.The threat landscape is constantly evolving to the point that as soon as a new security measure is put in place, that measure will likely be breached or become redundant in the face of a new threat. Security aims to stay ... read more..

HP has made a new product announcement for its Data Protector backup and recovery software. Data Protector Notebook Extension provides protection for PC clients such as desktop PCs and laptops to enable organisations to protect data stored outside of the data centre, something not typically included in normal backup procedures. ... read more..

Mobile phones have now become an essential part of everyday life with more that 40m owned by British residents. Their constantly increasing functionality and the fact that hardly anyone goes anywhere without their mobile means that the information available on both SIM /Handset can determine more about a person's movements, ... read more..

There is no precise legal definition of fraud, the term is used to describe a multitude of offences, including deception, forgery, theft, misappropriation, collusion and false representation of material facts. Given this wide potential then for wrong-doing it is perhaps surprising that fraud is not featured in the National Policing ... read more..

A systematic and holistic IT risk assessment one that takes an enterprise-wide perspective, links risks clearly to strategic goals, reflects ongoing changes in the business, and engages a wide range of stakeholders is key to a successful risk management process. IT Risk Assessment: the need for an all-round ... read more..

Simply securing information systems is no longer enough. Increasingly, organisations need to be able to demonstrate that their systems and the information they contain are protected. This means finding a way to gather relevant information, in one place that provides an accessible overview of current information security status, creating confidence ... read more..

Including the 2006 results, Ernst Young's Global Information Security Survey has shown over the past years that many companies are making significant progress in mitigating risks by strengthening their information security. It suggests information securitys organisational position will be strengthened through the convergence of continuous improvements and companies recognising ... read more..

Ernst Young's 10th Annual Global Information Security Survey of 1,300 organisations across 50 countries found that information security remains too isolated from executive management and the strategic decision-making process. Recent incidents in the UK have done much to highlight the lack of protection of information assets held by organizations, ... read more..

Ernst Young's 10th Global Fraud Survey of 1,186 senior business executives from 33 countries found that illegal business practices such as bribery are still being used by organisations to secure or retain business despite the rise in anti-corruption legislation and law enforcement. It is worryingly clear from the survey ... read more..

Ernst Young's 2nd IT Internal Audit Survey compared the current state of IT internal auditing across 60 leading companies from the UK, Ireland and Sweden via interviews with CIOs, Heads of Internal Audit and Audit Committees. CIOs and Heads of Internal Audit agree that information security and major business ... read more..

Ernst Young's 2008 Global Information Security Survey - one of the longest running and most recognized annual surveys within the global information security arena.Moving beyond compliance ... read more..

Cloud Computing is a term that has quickly become the hottest topic in the technology sector, with seemingly every major provider and thousands of smaller companies offering Cloud Computing services. But what exactly is Cloud Computing? A recent McKinsey report listed twenty-two definitions of Cloud Computing! The umbrella term 'cloud' has been used ... read more..

2009 has seen the power of social media reach an all-time high with many of us dedicating our precious time daily to blogs, chat forums and popular social networking sites such as Facebook and Twitter. Rob Marcus, director at social networking moderation company, Chat Moderators believes that social media is ... read more..

The term 'Information Assurance' in its broadest sense is the process for enabling the right information to be available securely to the right people at the right time for best business advantage. To achieve this business requirement organisations need to: move away from traditional command and control ... read more..

By Maitland Hyslop Maitland Hyslop is COO of the Onyx Group and a published author on the subject of information security. He recently presented on 'Data Security in the Public Sector' to a closed Government audience. He is a founder member of the Dartmouth College (USA) and Purdue University (USA) ... read more..

AT A GLANCE Customer: BAA plc. Industry: Transportation, retail and property management. Challenge: To provide strategic guidance to BAA in achieving responsible and profitable growth of air travel by upgrading and developing its IT infrastructure in line with its business objectives. Solution: Utilised wealth of know-how in conjunction with experienced know-why to renew desktop ... read more..

Three reasons to move your security to SaaS - and five things to consider before you do. Corporate IT teams are waging a significant security battle on two fronts these days: stopping attacks via the Web and through email. They are tirelessly trying to protect their networks against known and unknown ... read more..

Ian Kilpatrick, chairman of Wick Hill Group, looks at the current state of access control UK organisations, over the last few years, have significantly expanded their IT networks outside physical network boundaries, increasing mobile, remote, wireless and VoIP use. This growth is still continuing and can lead to greater risks from ... read more..

Checklist What is your company's data recovery plan? How long will it take to integrate the data? How will the data be backed up? Will this preserve the integrity, as well as, the substance of the data? Are you able to ... read more..