Tag Archives: security

Don’t be complacent when it comes to document security

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By Tony Burnett, group sales director at Altodigital


Document security is crucially important for organisations but unfortunately an issue that often gets forgotten amongst the day-to-day demands of running a business. However, a lax attitude towards document management can have serious consequences for any business; from compromising confidential data to falling foul of stringent data protection laws.

Here at Altodigital, managed document solutions (MDS) forms a major part of what we do, and to help us understand the issues businesses face in this area, we sought the views of more than 500 decision makers across the UK when it came to document security as well as printer, scanner and photocopier practices. Continue reading →

It’s Time to Think Outside the Sandbox

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By Leon Ward, Senior Product Manager, Detection, Sourcefire

Over the years we’ve all heard claims of ‘silver bullet’ solutions to solve security problems. One of the most recent claims has been around the use of sandboxing technology alone to fight advanced malware and targeted threats.

The idea behind sandboxing is that you limit the impact malware can have by isolating an unknown or untrusted file, constraining it to run in a tightly controlled environment and watching it for suspect or malicious behaviour. Sandbox technology can mitigate risk, but it doesn’t remove it entirely. Continue reading →

CIOs have to say yes to CEOs

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By Sean Farrington, UK MD, RVP Northern Europe at QlikView

The Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) trend is no longer a ‘trend’. It has happened. Recent predictions from Gartner claim that global PC shipments will decline this year as tablet shipments increase, and there is anecdotal evidence that the majority of employees have accessed company-sensitive information on their personal device. Just look at any desk around you in your office and you will spot personal devices scattered among traditional work tools.

Whereas the BYOD phenomenon has previously been associated with a younger generation coming into the workforce, disrupting existing workflows and tools deployed in an office environment, it actually isn’t. In fact, increasingly, it is the C-suite that is driving BYOD. Continue reading →

Ensuring ‘Business as Usual’

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By Christian Toon, Head of Information Risk, Global Security Services, Iron Mountain

 

The risk of a serious data breach or the loss of confidential information could damage your company’s ability to function, undermine your brand reputation and leave your customers vulnerable to identity theft.

There are a number of steps businesses of all sizes can take to protect their information. Christian Toon, Head of Information Risk at Iron Mountain, provides some tips to ensure that the lifeblood of your business is managed in the best possible way. Continue reading →

Poor passwords could leave your company hacked-off

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By Abigail Phillips

 

Poor passwords could leave one in five companies hacked-off, according to a recent survey.

New research has found that one in five British businesses use ‘password’ as their password, despite over 70% ranking IT security as vital for their work. And if your password is your date of birth then you might want to think about resetting it.

A survey by network support company Lifeline IT revealed that over a third admitted using their date of birth as part of their password and a further 15% use a family member’s or friend’s name, with 13% a family or friend’s birthday. Continue reading →

Coping with today’s security and compliance challenges

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By Ian Kilpatrick, chairman of Wick Hill Group, specialists in secure IP infrastructure solutions and convergence.

 

A greater range of threats, more complex threats, and how to deal with these threats on a limited budget, with static staff numbers, are some of the issues faced by organisations today.

The challenges include compliance and licensing, as well as a host of security issues around areas such as ever-increasing remote access; the growing number of mobile devices; virtualisation; convergence; wireless; data loss; and the consumerisation of equipment.

A variety of solutions is available to deal with these threats. Continue reading →

BYOD is making your company vulnerable – but what should you being doing about it?

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By Oscar Arean, Technical Operations Manager at Databarracks

 

Our recent Data Health Check security survey has shown that over 40% of IT bosses admit employees are using BYOD (Bring Your Own Device) to hold company information. Yet, little over a quarter of businesses have a formal policy for BYOD.

Whilst smart phones and tablets owned by staff might help them to work more easily, if managed badly BYOD could expose your company to a potentially disastrous breach in data security. Not only could you risk leaking sensitive information, you could also face a fine of up to £500,000 from the Information Commissioner’s Office.

If managed effectively, BYOD can save money and improve employee flexibility; if mishandled, it can pose an incredible risk. Continue reading →

How Secure is Your Organisation?

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By Rob Batters Service Director of Enterprise Solutions for Northdoor

 
While the global economic crisis continues to put pressure on IT budgets, from a spending standpoint security is set to remain a priority. According to Gartner, worldwide spending on security is expected to increase 8.4 percent from 2011 figures to $60 billion in 2012. By 2016, spending is expected to reach $86 billion.

Companies continue to invest in security with good reason. According to the UK’s Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO), the number of self-reported data breaches has skyrocketed in the last five years with an average percentage increase across sectors of 1,014 percent. And, with the rise of virtualisation, mobilisation and consumerisation, shoring a company’s security defences has never been more challenging. Continue reading →

Securing IT Against Consumerisation

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By Leon Ward, Field Product Manager, Sourcefire


With the rise of virtualisation, mobilisation and consumerisation, shoring a company’s security defences has never been more challenging. If we look at one area – the trend towards bring-your-own device (BYOD) – it is easy to understand the concern. Employees are increasingly using their personal devices to access corporate resources which is putting the corporate network at risk. It has also become exponentially difficult to protect against mobile malware threats – IT and security managers simply don’t have the visibility or the control to ensure their environment is adequately protected. Continue reading →