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Information Availability & Security Nuggets Page 96
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Report Predicts Growing Demand for Fault Tolerant Servers Virtualization, infrastructure consolidation and telecommunications convergence will drive demand for fault tolerant solutions as continuous availability becomes IT managers' top concern, according to a Yankee Group report, "Server Virtualization Creates New Opportunities For Fault-Tolerant Servers." Fault-tolerant servers' 15 percent share of the $58 billion server market will increase steadily as companies virtualize and consolidate their server infrastructures to run more critical applications on more resource-efficient networks, according to the Yankee Group's report. The common thread through the trends, the report says, is the re-emergence of single points of failure in network architectures. IT managers are simultaneously running more critical applications on networks while consolidating them to use now-dormant processing power; eliminate redundant servers; and increase server utilization from as little as 10 percent to as much as 80 percent. Fault-tolerant servers are an attractive option for IT managers because they minimize the risk of running four or five logical servers on one physical server. (http://www.continuitycentral.com/news03260.htm) Information Protection Market to Pass the $3 Billion Mark in 2011 Information protection and control (IPC) solutions will be a major area of investment over the next five years, due to their key role in protecting sensitive information and complying with privacy regulations. A new report from IDC says the worldwide IPC market will pass the $3 billion mark in 2011, representing a 33 percent compound annual growth rate. "Information has become the world's new currency," said Brian Burke, research manager for IDC's Security Products program. "The growing number of high-profile incidents in which customer records, confidential information and intellectual property were leaked (or lost/stolen) has created an explosive demand for solutions that protect against the deliberate or inadvertent release of sensitive information." (http://www.idc.com/getdoc.jsp?containerId=prUS20706107) Worldwide Identity Theft Black Market 2006 - 2010 Forecast This study by IDC examines the trends in the identity theft market, explores the differences between identity theft and fraud, identifies the critical drivers for continued problems and forecasts the size of the black market for trafficking of identities. IDC believes that criminals made $715.6 million in the trafficking of stolen and compromised identities in 2005 alone. "The black market traffic in stolen identities is a significant driver for much of the fraud and security threats today," says Chris Christiansen, IDC group vice president of Security Products. "Vendors need to step up and help their clients wade through the mire of legislation and technical requirements and help them solve the problem of data breaches and identity theft." (http://www.idc.com/getdoc.jsp?containerId=204834) Enterprise Security Survey: The Rise of the Insider Threat This IDC study covers the results of IDC's Enterprise Security Survey for 2006. The quantitative study focuses on understanding the types, frequency and nature of attacks on the enterprise network system, how enterprises respond to such attacks and what sort of technology they have deployed and intend to deploy to continue to improve the protection of their networks. (http://www.idc.com/getdoc.jsp?containerId=204807) Thwarting Data Loss Is your data safe? Companies are losing millions due to data breaches. Compliance with internal security policies and external regulations is forcing companies to identify and secure sensitive data. More than 70 percent of companies surveyed say that securing sensitive data is "high priority" but only 22 percent of companies have adopted data loss solutions. This Aberdeen Benchmark study by Carol Baroudi looks at the strategies best-in-class companies are using to protect their data. (http://www.aberdeen.com/summary/report/benchmark/3967-RA-Data-Loss.asp) Survey Examines Current Attitudes to DR, BC and Information Availability A new study, commissioned by SunGard Availability Services and conducted by Harris Interactive, reveals an apparent misalignment between IT and business executives when it comes to how to limit the amount of downtime that follows a disaster. With the tolerance for downtime of IT systems rapidly declining to five hours or less by both groups, business executives are less likely than their IT counterparts to place a higher priority on disaster recovery and business continuity. The study shows that 71 percent of IT respondents identified disaster recovery and business continuity as very important or crucial to business success, versus 49 percent of business respondents. (http://www.continuitycentral.com/news03200.htm Information Security Focus Moves from Viruses to Information Theft Recent Research published by Cisco finds that corporate officers responsible for network security don't worry as much as they used to about computer viruses and unauthorized access. The second annual poll of information technology security professionals across large UK enterprises found that 38 percent of respondents place theft of information as their number one concern, while 33 percent focus on regulatory compliance. The survey found that viruses, the prime concern of 55 percent of respondents in 2006, were cited by just 27 percent this year. Fewer than a third of the respondents voiced worries about unauthorized access to data in 2007, compared with more than 50 percent in 2006. (http://www.continuitycentral.com/news03192.htm) What's Wrong With Security? Viruses, hacker exploits and dishonest employees don't begin to the cover the many ways data and systems can be compromised. Meanwhile, according to the magazine's global security survey, just 37 percent of respondents had an overall security strategy in place. Diann Daniel asks five information security experts which security problems need the most attention, and what they would do to fix them. (http://www.cio.com/article/110517/What_s_Wrong_With_Security_) Locking Down the Remote User Companies are still grappling with the issue of securing their users in the field. One response is simply to restrict access. But a combination of smart-card technology and public key infrastructure may provide a more productive alternative. Jerry Iwanski reports. (http://www.cio.com/article/109453/Locking_Down_the_Remote_User) Why Real-Time Asset Management is More Than Just a 'Good Idea' for Business Continuity A week might be a long time in politics - but in IT it's an eternity. Everything can change and what was safe, secure and accounted for on Monday can be threatened, compromised or even gone by Friday. People make mistakes and lose things or steal them, they download unlicensed software from the web or their kids install it at the weekend and generally 'company property' is unguarded and out of control. With this in mind, Graeme Pitts-Drake argues that automated asset management one of the key foundation stones of ensuring business continuity. Yet, despite the acceptance of and demand for appropriate business continuity plans at board level, most IT managers are still not taking the most basic of precautions to guard their IT inventory and get automated asset management in place. (http://www.continuitycentral.com/feature0459.htm) Back to top |