You can't request more than 20 challenges without solving them. Your previous challenges were flushed.

Security protects bottom line

April 10, 2001, 02:32 PM —  InfoWorld — 

COMPUTER SECURITY means different things to different people. To someone trained in physical security concepts, the computer is secure as long as it's behind a locked door. To a system administrator, security depends on installing the patches for known security holes in the applications and the OS. To your customers, security means that personal or sensitive data won't be available to every 15-year-old with a Linux box and some hacking tools. But no matter your perspective, one thing is for sure: Security is going to be an IT hot button for as long as computers are networked.

The cost of beefing up security may seem like a tough sell during the current economic downturn. But companies that fail to ensure security may not be around long enough to learn from their mistakes. After all, the true cost of a security breach is not the overtime your emergency response team racks up or the potential fines and litigation expenses; what really hurts is the loss of confidence and goodwill that follow.

Preventing security issues from knocking your business for a loop isn't easy, but it doesn't have to be overwhelming either. Rather than tackling everything at once, the best strategy is to determine where the greatest vulnerabilities are and address those problems first.

Securing your network

BUSINESS CASE

With many enterprises facing tighter budget restrictions, it's not uncommon for network security to fall off the list of IT priorities. But the cost of an unauthorized breach can quickly outstrip the expense of upgrading existing security. And as the number of telecommuting workers increases, the risk of successful hack attempts also rises.

TECHNOLOGY CASE

Securing your network means locking down physical resources, monitoring remote users, and keeping a close eye on your physical network -- no small task. The good news is that security tools are getting better all the time. Interesting developments in the fields of intrusion detection and biometric monitoring will tighten network and system security in the near term.

PROS

+ Customers are more likely to do business with a vendor whose security is top-notch

+ Securing networks and systems can prevent business interruptions and lost productivity

CONS

- Security enhancements often divert resources from other projects

Start with the basics

Sign up for ITworld's Daily newsletter
Follow ITworld on Twitter @IT_world

I like it!
Post a comment
The content of this field is kept private and will not be shown publicly.
  • Allowed HTML tags: <a> <em> <strong> <cite> <code> <ul> <ol> <li> <dl> <dt> <dd>
  • Lines and paragraphs break automatically.
peer-to-peer

Esther Schindler
If the comments are ugly, the code is ugly

claird
SVG a graphics format for 21st century

pasmith
Take Chrome OS for a test spin

Sandra Henry-Stocker
Solaris Tip: Have Your Files Changed Since Installation?

sjvn
64-bits of protection?

jfruh
Android fragments vs. the iPhone monolith

mikelgan
What Gizmodo missed about the Pro WX Wireless USB disk drive

 

Sidekick: The Good News & the Bad News
Either way you look at it Microsoft Data Center management did not follow standards or best practices in this failure. In which case it makes me wonder more about the outsourcing of corporate data much less personal data.
- mburton325

Join the conversation here

The Daily Tip

The Daily TipQuick, practical advice for IT pros. Made fresh daily.

Hot tips:

Want to cash in on your IT savvy? Send your tip to tips@itworld.com. If we post it, we'll send you a $25 Amazon e-gift card.

Newsletters

Subscribe to ITWORLD TODAY and receive the latest IT news and analysis.

I would like to receive offers via email from ITworld partners.
By clicking submit you agree to the terms and conditions outlined in ITworld's privacy policy.
Featured Sponsor

AISO founders envisioned a Web hosting company that was environmentally friendly. While the company employed energy-efficient innovations like solar panels, its infrastructure produced unacceptable power and cooling requirements. Find out how AISO leveraged AMD technology to overcome their challenge in this case study white paper.

In this whitepaper, Scalar explores the opportunity to change the landscape with respect to mission critical databases built around Oracle. Leveraging technologies such as Linux, high-end commodity processing power and Oracle RAC technology to architect, design, build and maintain database infrastructure that delivers maximum availability, reliability and performance at a fraction of traditional cost.

On a typical day, weather.com, the Web site for The Weather Channel in Atlanta, serves up between 15 million and 20 million page views. But in September 2004, when back-to-back hurricanes ransacked Florida, the peak traffic on one day more than tripled: over 70 million page views by more than 7 million unique visitors. Read the full success story now.

Marketplace