IT Security Blog

Network Assessment tools – for a better/secure network

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In the time when people are going more and more mobile making the telecommuting concept a true reality, the existence of the wall-less office has slowly been realized. The shift to WiFi and other wireless networking solutions has allowed people to work like never before without the wires that tied them physically to desks. More and more areas like metropolitan areas are putting up hot spots that allow constituents to work within specific areas which already have existing wireless networks. Even offices have shifted to the technology due to cheaper implementation without the expensive wires needed for each and every workstation. Maintenance of said wired networks also proved to be a very challenging task due to the restricted spaces and conduits which housed them behind walls, ceilings and under the floors. WiFi allowed then network to function without physical connections allowing mobile devices to be connected and linked to the network which could be taken anywhere in the office.

The wireless office has indeed given us more in the area of freedom but it has also created a more vulnerable network for control on who gets which access and other security issues quickly emerged. Software and hardware systems like Retina from eEye Corporation allowed network engineers and managers to analyze and address security loopholes such as unauthorized devices connected to the network like the occasional iPhone and most other unauthorized wireless devices. It also serves as an analysis tools on the proper placement and function of wireless antenna which can be analyzed based on signal strength. Weak signals can mean re-positioning the antenna system or worse it could be a signal of a pending failure for a specific network device. It can also show the effectivity of the network in terms of utilization and bandwidth that is being effectively shared/used by the users.

[tags]Network Invetory, Network Usage, Maximizing Internet Use[/tags]

Data Security and Integrity

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Information is knowledge so information is power. Much so that data that is used, stored and shared within a business environment as all of us know is the subject of too much security that has data centers locked up away from the actual site. Some companies even have armored or secure clean rooms where if something was to happen in the actual office or work site the data center can survive anything under a nuclear blast. But most it professionals still forget the importance of integrity of data that is stored within these data centers.

Yes they have been secure for all the years the several servers have been sending and retrieving data to and from the data center but is the information that we work so hard to keep intact accurate? What if some malicious code somewhat managed to sneak past the thousand dollar anti-virus and other protective software? And has been wreaking havoc within the data center walls? I mean, they do not have to destroy or corrupt the data for as simple alteration of making 1’s into 0’s could be enough to reduce all the information stored within useless.

That is where redundancy comes in which many people now consider to be an old fashioned approach and a waste of important resources. Say a back-up tape/s of all the initial data that is updated with current data say yearly and processed with the same information that entered the data center in a parallel run to see if all was well. It might seem to be a lot of work and investment of manpower but it is assured to keep the integrity of all the information within, going in and out of all data centers. Say a 1,000,000.00 pension suddenly turned into a 1,100,000.00 pension, wouldn’t that ruin your day?

That’s why companies like RSA’s Enterprise Data Security offer in Data security and control systems to prevent such problems from arising in the first place. In any system, the weakest link is till the human operator who can easily misplace a file or other data that can make or break a company. So instead of having to develop their own systems for the same purpose, most opt to hire someone to do that job for them which allows the business to do what it was put up to do, earn a profit.