The current recession has put huge strain on companies across the board; to ensure their survival, it is critical that their costs are closely monitored and strictly controlled. With users being able to access the Internet, send and receive e-mail and browse the local network, often in an unstructured manner, it is more important than ever that employees are monitored and kept productive.
It is essential that access to information is managed and users are accountable for their actions. A recent security survey, conducted by Ernst & Young, highlighted that 70% of security breaches that involve losses of more than R1 million, are perpetrated internally and most often by disgruntled employees.
J2 Software managing director John Mc Loughlin says many IT administrators and business managers do not have the tools to know what users are doing on the organisation's computers and on the network. “Very little consideration has been given to providing solid management systems to ensure that the investment in technology delivers maximum benefit. In essence, in these tough times it is extremely important that executives take corrective steps and ensure there are preventative measures in place for this.”
He says there is a higher possibility and probability of theft of sensitive information for profit in these difficult times. “The modern day executive has a duty to protect the organisation from these types of abuse and theft. The key word is 'duty', they cannot sit back and claim 'we did not know this was happening'. This duty extends not only to shareholders and investors, but includes a duty to customers (protection of company sales, customer sensitive information, etc), suppliers (price lists, strategies, etc) and employees.”
Despite more security issues than ever, all competing for organisations' attention, the seemingly unstoppable rise in the use of portable storage devices in the workplace is a risk that needs urgent action. Furthermore, laptop security is a threat that every company should take seriously. As their use of mobile computing evolves, so too should their security policy. The emerging and constantly evolving world of mobile working requires a constantly monitored and adapted security policy to accompany it.
Mc Loughlin warns that there is an inescapable trend that needs urgent attention from the board. “The increasing threat of confidential data being removed from the network inside the organisation through the use of removable media devices such as cellular phones, USB flash drives, 'plug and play' hard disks, PDAs and MP3 players.
“But what can possibly be dangerous about these devices? The threat is that they have massive storage space, enough to save an entire customer database, a company's financial records and HR files. After all, an MP3 player is just a big hard disk,” he explains. “Now consider that one of these devices can be connected to any PC on your network and used to copy hundreds, if not thousands, of sensitive files in a single minute without anyone noticing.”
Many organisations are now looking for solutions to cover the obvious gaps in their approach to information security. The changing requirements of information security are evolving rapidly and these organisations need to find comprehensive, simple-to-use solutions - based on a whole new set of emerging challenges and threats.
SystemSkan is used to identify security risks within an organisation, and provides policy enforcement tools to minimise these risks. It assists in setting the appropriate policy and provides enforcement tools to protect company information. Furthermore, it will greatly increase the efficiency of network management and reduce the cost of administration services within the workplace.
SystemSkan is a total user management tool, which provides business managers and IT administrators with the ability to view and record every user's actions on the computer network, including Internet and outgoing e-mail attachments.
McLoughlin says policies are enforced by continually screening each user's activity. “SystemSkan will track, monitor and control every user activity on the network. There is also an easy-to-use comprehensive Web-based reporting module to track events and the ability to manage and control external device usage. We will allow our clients to detect program usage, file access and activity, including Internet usage. SystemSkan gives you visibility of what is really going on across your network.
“SystemSkan has been developed to suit the needs of IT administrators, but with an easy-to-use Web reporting module, it is friendly enough for CEOs and department IT managers to use quickly and easily. It is an essential policy enforcement tool to manage networks, knowledge workers and to protect intellectual property,” he concludes.
For more information, contact J2 Software on (011) 794 2537 or email john@jtwo.co.za.
Share
J2 Software
J2 Software is a leading South African IT security company. While most organisations are now starting to realise the impact of data theft and abuse of IT resources by employees, J2 recognised the need to protect against this activity some time ago. J2 Software was born after the founders identified an opportunity in the IT market in South Africa and the rest of Africa. They saw a growing need for information security solutions that were comprehensive, simple to deploy, easy to use and good value for money. After tireless searching and investigation, J2 Software was officially launched in 2006.
Shortly after inception the customer list of J2 Software started to grow rapidly; and this continues to be the case to this day. J2 Software has provided services and solutions to numerous renowned, forward-thinking companies with sites running in South Africa, Angola, Botswana, Kenya, Malawi, Mauritius, Mozambique, Tanzania, Uganda and Zambia.
J2 Software provides solutions and services to various organisations that have a requirement to secure their sensitive information as well as implement, monitor and enforce internal security policies. In recent times, organisations are placing a far higher priority on the security, accountability and control of their most prized asset, their information.
Adding to this is the ever-growing pressure being placed on companies and their directors to maintain the security and control of the sensitive data of their clients, as well as the necessity to conform to various local and international compliance regulations.
With the continued rise of identity theft and confidential data leakage the need for our product offering is not only and advantage, but an absolute necessity.
Editorial contacts