In an earlier post, I wrote about the problems of cyber-attacks on corporate infrastucture giving as an example the attack on Google. Well, it seems that Google has now teamed up with the National Security Agency (NSA) to investigate the attack. What this means and how far will this agreement will go is up for speculation. But at least in my opinion this is a good start. The NSA is tasked with monitoring communications across the world for the protection of the US. Anything federal agencies can do to enhence the protection of US corporations is positive news.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wpdyn/content/article/2010/02/03/AR2010020304057_pf.html
Showing posts with label cybersecurity. Show all posts
Showing posts with label cybersecurity. Show all posts
Thursday, February 4, 2010
Tuesday, February 2, 2010
iPAD, Microsoft and Cybersecurity
OK, so cybersecurity is one of my favorite topics. There are lots of issues associated with cybersecurity both personal and social. Having said that, there are two innovations that I think work in the interest of corporate protection of data, one is the release of the iPAD and the other is Micorsoft's release of WEB-based M/S Office.
The great security feature of the iPAD is its lack of an USB port. I'm sure that it was not the intent of Apple to provide a non-USB device for the purpose of enhancing security but I think that a corporate IT infrastucture that does not have to worry about people storing data on USB devices or inserting USB memory sticks embedded with viruses is a good thing. Unfortunately, there are adapters but maybe there are ways to disable such devices for corporate applications.
Anecdotally, I have recently read about stories where an USB memory stick being left in a parking lot of a coporation with the appropriate logo of that corporation. A curious employee takes the USB device, inserts it into their PC and opens it, releasing a virus that has penetrated the best of Firewall, Router, Intrusion detection methods. With no USB ports, a product like the iPAD provides protection against such methods.
And now to Microsoft, with applications such as Microsoft Office being able to be accessed on the Web, files need no longer be accessed by downloading them to a PC. For a user the experience should be no different than what it is currently expect that the data will never exist locally albeit on their web browser, and hopefully if configured properly the remote data would no be allowed to be downloaded by the browser.
No local access, no USB port; this protects against many security flaws that have allowed users to take data on an USB memory stick outside corporate offices and lose them or worse yet sell the data. Web-based applications allow for the protection of data from being moved outside of corporate facilities.
The great security feature of the iPAD is its lack of an USB port. I'm sure that it was not the intent of Apple to provide a non-USB device for the purpose of enhancing security but I think that a corporate IT infrastucture that does not have to worry about people storing data on USB devices or inserting USB memory sticks embedded with viruses is a good thing. Unfortunately, there are adapters but maybe there are ways to disable such devices for corporate applications.
Anecdotally, I have recently read about stories where an USB memory stick being left in a parking lot of a coporation with the appropriate logo of that corporation. A curious employee takes the USB device, inserts it into their PC and opens it, releasing a virus that has penetrated the best of Firewall, Router, Intrusion detection methods. With no USB ports, a product like the iPAD provides protection against such methods.
And now to Microsoft, with applications such as Microsoft Office being able to be accessed on the Web, files need no longer be accessed by downloading them to a PC. For a user the experience should be no different than what it is currently expect that the data will never exist locally albeit on their web browser, and hopefully if configured properly the remote data would no be allowed to be downloaded by the browser.
No local access, no USB port; this protects against many security flaws that have allowed users to take data on an USB memory stick outside corporate offices and lose them or worse yet sell the data. Web-based applications allow for the protection of data from being moved outside of corporate facilities.
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