IN HIS KEYNOTE SPEECH AT THE N+I (NOW CALLED INTEROP) SHOW THIS MAY IN Las Vegas, Cisco Systems Inc. President and CEO John Chambers told the crowd that security is the top concern — and area of spending — for CIOs at businesses today. But securing networks is no small task considering security has to be completely pervasive across the whole network, he noted.
And that’s a growing challenge given that, as Aberdeen Group Inc. writes in a new report called “Best Practices in Security: Network and Infrastructure,” organizations are continuing to centralize IT operations in headquarters while deepening their reliance on networks, and the Internet specifically, to manage supply chains around the world and maximize customer sales and self-service in local geographies.
So companies judged as “best-in-class” in security practices are taking significant steps to buttress their networks and infrastructures, says Aberdeen Group, adding that those steps include the following:
- multiringed layers of defense, with sensitive data staged within the innermost ring
- maintaining many virtual LAN environments according to business operations and roles
- deployment of intrusion detection and prevention solutions
- new practices and technologies that identify hidden business and technology risks
- mandating fixes for noncompliant networks and IT infrastructures of trading partners, business partners and customers
As one indicator that companies are focused increasingly on security, Infonetics Research reports network security appliance and software revenue was up 5 percent between the last quarter of 2004 and the first quarter of 2005, and is forecast to grow 27 percent to $1.3 billion in the first quarter of 2006.
Meanwhile, industry initiatives such as the Fingerprint Sharing Alliance have been established to address network security. In the case of this alliance, the focus is aimed at helping network operators share Internet attack information automatically. Telcos participating in the Fingerprint Sharing Alliance include British Telecom plc, Deutsche Telekom, MCI Inc., NTT Communications and XO Communications Inc.
And, of course, there are security-related advances on a number of other fronts.
Still, all is not rosy. Internet security breaches continue to grab headlines. Freeloaders and malicious agents are breaking into our wireless networks. And, as public networks of all types move to IP, security concerns continue to mount.
All this prompted us to dedicate this issue of xchange to security and how it affects you, the service provider, and your customers.
Among the security stories in these pages, Fred Dawson explains how Microsoft Corp.’s competitors are up in arms about what they deem the software giant’s dangerously inflexible DRM system (see this story). Fred also tackles security as it relates to SOHO and residential user devices like DSL modems and how that ties into carrier concerns (see this story).
Charlotte Wolter analyzes security issues that arise with the move of voice to IP networks (see this story and this story).
Tara Seals looks at security as it relates to various types of wireless networks and devices (see this story).
And former xchange reporter and future law school student Josh Long, to whom xchange recently said goodbye, in this story talks about advances in biometrics to secure physically data centers and other sites where communications equipment is located.
| Links |
| Aberdeen Group Inc. www.aberdeen.com British Telecom plc www.bt.com Cisco Systems Inc. www.cisco.com Deutsche Telekom www.telekom.de Fingerprint Sharing Alliance www.arbor.net/fingerprint-sharing-alliance.php Infonetics Research www.infonetics.com INTEROP www.interop.com MCI Inc. www.mci.com Microsoft Corp. www.microsoft.com NTT Communications www.ntt.com XO Communications Inc. www.xo.com |
